


Mirror mirror

by HeartOfInk



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Magic Mirrors, Mirror Universe, Reflection, Self-Esteem Issues, Separate Childhoods, possible twincest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2018-11-20 10:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 28,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11334117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartOfInk/pseuds/HeartOfInk
Summary: "I am you." Okumura Yukio told the boy in the mirror, the one with blue flames. "And you are me."





	1. Blue

_Age: 4_

* * *

 

"Tou-san, why is that when you look at the mirror you look the same, but when I do I look different?" Yukio was four at the time, his blue eyes calm and a frown adorning his features.

Fujimoto Shiro frowned in turn. Yukio had always been a very intelligent, if quiet child, preferring to observe the world around him rather than being boisterous. It was quite out of character for him to ask something so odd.

The man humored the boy and let himself be led to the bathroom's mirror. "To me you look exactly the same." the priest admitted. Yukio's face fell.

"There's a boy copying all I'm doing! Stop it!" Yukio insisted, glaring at the mirror and sticking his tongue out at it.

Shiro made sure neither the boy nor the mirror were possessed by a demon of any kind. Once he was sure, he brushed the incident off as a quirk of the bespectacled boy. Kids often had imaginary friends, didn't they?

On Yukio's side, it wasn't long before he realized no one could see the other in the mirror.

"Are you trapped in there?" the young boy asked innocently. "Should I get you out?" No answer, of course. The other had never copied his lip movements.

The other boy was always smiling, so maybe he was happy to see Yukio. Dark hair, blue eyes, pale skin. That's where the similarities ended. The other had darker hair than he, was shorter, and had a black tail and blue flames coming out of his body. It made Yukio wonder if he should douse himself in water, to put out the fire of his reflection. Fire hurt, after all.

"Your parents didn't believe you either, right?" Yukio grimaced.

The other one copied him.

* * *

 

Being a prince of Gehenna wasn't at all like it was chalked up to be. Rin knew that very well. He wasn't allowed to go out of the castle, for one. His brothers were all older than him and too violent for his tastes, so playtime with them was out. And to top it off, he had finally realized there was no way his reflection in the mirror was himself. He didn't have that contraption on his face (What was the word... Ah, it didn't matter) and it was obvious the other was a human. Well, either that, or a demon kid who hid his tail all the time. The other boy didn't have blue flames either.

Rin could see one good side about that though. He could pretend there really was someone else in the room, kinda like a friend. Moving around and doing funny faces, the young child still presented his usual smile as he moved around to see if the reflection would copy him. "Hey, I've told you this before, stop copying me!"

Even if his reflection was different, he always felt some kind of joy when he saw this boy. Was it how most human children looked? How was life in Assiah compared to Gehenna? Why did the other have that strange thing on his face?

"I'm not copying you." the unexpected voice almost made Rin jump out of his skin, though he didn't stop looking at the other boy. One of his brothers startling him was a common occurrence by now.

"Amai-nii, what do I look like in the mirror right now?" the dark-haired boy asked the passing demon.

Amaimon raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? It's a mirror, you look like you." without even pausing from his stride the second youngest of Satan left his little brother's sight.

Rin grimaced and looked at the brown-haired kid. "Did your family believe you?"


	2. Rock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okumura Yukio tries to help the boy in the mirror.  
> It doesn't go well.

_Age: 6_

Okumura Yukio had a rock in his hand and a defiant scowl. No matter what the others said, he wasn't crazy, or insane, and the fact that his friend was his reflection wasn't narcissistic…whatever that meant.

He had heard things about him at school, where he would explain how he had a friend who was trapped in a mirror. Now he heard of whispered things with the adults. Schizophrenia, MPD, something called 'Mirrored self misidentification', all of which had his dad scoff, huff, and retort that 'that happens only with old people' respectively.

But they just couldn't see! The Boy in Blue was right in front of them, sometimes not even copying him at all! That proved he wasn't a mirror image completely.

Well, Yukio would show them. He would show them all how wrong they were when he managed to break the mirror and pull his friend out. And then his teachers would apologize and his dad would apologize too and they'd have to see where the Boy could sleep and…

He was getting ahead of himself. Yukio looked into his mirror at the blue eyes of the other. The Boy in Blue was hurt? Then all the more reason for him to rescue him, right?

He fished out the rock from his pocket and showed it to the boy. "I'm going to throw this at the mirror, and then you can come out, okay?" he drew his hand back and prepared to throw it. "Stay back, it can hit you." He warned, before realizing what he just said.

Yukio threw the rock, and the mirror exploded in a myriad of shiny glass.

* * *

 

Still aching, Rin looked into his mirror. The other boy was there, like always. Rin smiled to see that the boy's face didn't have any of the scrapes and bruises that were still slowly fading on his own face.

"I had my first real fight today," he said. The other boy didn't smile. Maybe he wasn't either, Rin thought, so he forced one out. "Father said it would make me stronger. I guess it did because I won. Even though the other guy was huge!" Rin's face fell a bit. "Father said I didn't win fast enough. Is your father ever like that?"

Rin stopped as he noticed the Boy in Brown –as he had taken to call him- take something out from his pocket.

"Why do you have a rock…? Ah!" the young demon's eyes widened in realization. "You're going to try come through? Okay, go ahead, though I think Father will get mad at me..." Rin said and he threw his arm back. He watched as the rock reached a point where it should make contact with the glass…

With a deafening sound, the mirror broke. Rin looked all around for his friend, yet couldn't find him. His smile slid off as he grabbed one of the largest mirror shards.

"That didn't work." He announced.


	3. Judge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yukio reflects on what it means that his reflection is a demon.  
> Rin wonders about their future.

_Age: 7_

Yukio turning seven brought a few changes in his relationship with his mirror image. If he focused, he could somewhat make out blurred shapes and colors, and he assumed them to be the room the other was in when they saw each other.

Yukio stared at his reflection, the one that by definition should look exactly like him but didn't for some unexplainable reason. He had desisted in trying to convince his dad of that fact, as he wasn't really hurting anyone with that.

Now, though, that was another matter.

The Boy in Blue was wearing what looked like makeshift glasses, only the frame but not the glasses themselves, and a goofy smile. Almost like it was all a game, the human boy had retrieved a black belt from his closet drawer and tied it to the back of his pants before he remembered his predicament.

He didn't take his 'tail' off, though.

The books confirmed his suspicions. The tail alone should've been obvious; his mirror image was a demon child. A being who, according to the books he had asked his father to have a better understanding of the world of exorcists, now laid the truth bare as bones.

The blue flames, the ones that had destroyed everything some seven years ago, were in his reflection at all times. And, try as he might, there was no mention of a blue-haired kid in the section of the High Hierarchy of Genehha. Until now, he hadn't known there was a 9th Demon King… (or was it Demon Prince? The boy looked pretty young…)

Yukio was certain some of his fear must've shown on his face, for the boy lost his smile and his flames all but disappeared. His tail hid underneath his shirt. All in all, he now looked like a human boy, if you ignored the pointed ears and sharp teeth.

Yukio thought. His reflection was the child of Satan. But he didn't seem hellish, per see. He was a kid like him, and copied him, even!

Unwillingly, Yukio felt his lips pull upwards. "You can't be all that bad."

* * *

 

It had been easy. A few stray pieces of metal, and a lot of work for his flames. Then there was the tiny issue of not hurting himself with the burning material –which… didn't go as planned, to be honest- and Rin now had a contraption on his face much like the one his reflection sported.

Granted, he didn't see the use for it, but then again what did he know? He had never been in Assiah.

"I've been thinking…" Rin started as he plopped down in front of the mirror. "Father's the God of Demons, right? And my brothers are the Demon Kings, and when I grow up I can't be the King of Fire because Iblis already is the one, and I can't be God either 'cos Father is one. Maybe I can be a Judge?" Rin's smile widened as he told the Boy in Brown his grand plan. "Like, Sato Takashi dies and goes to Gehenna? I see if he's been bad enough to go to one of my brother's to receive punishment, or to Father, or such…"

Rin trailed off as he took in the Boy in Brown's expression. He looked scared, like a helpless rabbit on the floor. "Not you!" he quickly said. Rin wanted to reassure the boy. His death wasn't planned in the grand scheme of things. Rather, the death of others. "I-In fact, when you die and come to Gehenna I'll let you Judge with me! We can do that, people won't know you're a human soul as we look alike! Look," he put his flames inside him and tucked away his tail to prove his point.

Rin sighed in relief as he noted the smile on the Boy in Brown's face.

"I will be the Judge and you the Jury, and our court will hold no sympathy."


	4. Name

_Age: 10_

"There's a rabbit on the floor and I. Can. See~ It." Yukio sang softly from his spot under a tree.

Focused on the book he was reading, he nonetheless didn't fail to notice the whispers around him. He was constantly treated as a weakling and a freak, because he was smarter. He was better than them, he had to be, right? His mirror image was the Son of Satan for crying out loud!

"His smile is off," he heard a girl's whisper. "When he laughs he's laughing with ghosts."

His smile was off? He wouldn't know whether to deny or admit that statement, as Yukio didn't exactly know how he looked like, apart from dark hair, glasses and moles. Whenever he saw a mirror, or reflective water, or was drawn, he always saw the Boy in Blue.

He was pulled out of his musings as the world suddenly became blurry, things out of focus. Yukio didn't take long to realize he didn't have his glasses anymore.

* * *

 

Approaching the mirror, Rin didn't walk fast, for there was no purpose to his wanderings. Nothing bound him. Nobody knew him.  _The **loneliness** how it ached._ Nobody acknowledged him.  _All of them are enemies so it doesn't even matter._ He and his reflection were oneandthesame, though the other hid it behind a shy mask.  _Nobody can see my **j** e_a ** _l_** o _u_ **s** _y._

The Boy in Brown was staring at the book with a smile on his face, though not completely focused. His eyes were like boiling water, skittering from one person to the next, its blueness seeming to Judge each person they saw.

That was until he saw one of the bigger kids sneak behind the Boy in Brown and grab the odd contraption off his face, the one that Rin had taken the habit of using whenever they talked. The other kids were tossing it back and forth to each other and made the Boy run frantically between them.

Rin did not care for the other human kids that shared their learning space with his Other. But he felt curiosity about why the others took upon themselves to hurt him. And slowly, as he gazed upon his taut frame that suggested so much with a face so similar to his own, a face that suggested what could have been but wasn't, his curiosity took a violent turn.

The brown-haired boy's eyes snapped onto his own-fire met steam. At that moment he wanted to tell the human boy to simply let himself go and  **tear them apart rip them make them dance to his tune** but he stopped himself.

Why the Hell did they hurt the Boy in Brown?

_I will Judge them because it's not **fair** not  **fair**_

_I will Judge because we´re **right** and they're  **wrong**_

_I will Judge because I **want to**  and  **nobody** can stop me_

_I will Judge because he **won't**_

_I will Judge because I'm the **unseen**_

_I will Judge because he's the **embodiment** of  **me**_

"I'll Judge, but now you gotta react. Like this." Rin fisted his palm and thew it upwards in imitation of a punch. Imagine his surprise when the other copied him, his mirrored shocked and confused look giving away the other didn't quite know what happened.

"Yeah! Just like that." Rin egged him on, tail wagging behind him enthusiastically. Finally, the Boy in Brown was learning how to fight!

* * *

 

"I know the principal told me, but I find it hard to believe," Fujimoto Shiro stated as he walked back to the monastery with a timid Yukio. "Three of your classmates were bullying you."

"Yes." Yukio said as he gingerly pressed a finger to a sore spot. He just knew he'd have bruises eventually.

"They took your glasses."

"Yes."

"You took them on and managed to strike a few punches despite not having glasses and being outnumbered."

"Ye-" Yukio stopped when he noticed his dad's proud tone. The glasses-clad boy looked at the man in disbelief.

"You had to learn to defend yourself eventually, though next time I'd prefer you told your teacher about it." Fujimoto advised his son, before asking a question that had been bothering him. "Who taught you to throw a punch?"

"Uh…" Yukio stood frozen for a millisecond, knowing he couldn't say 'my reflection.' "My friend taught me." He blurted out.

Shiro raised his eyebrows. "Your friend?"

"Yeah!" Yukio scrambled his brain to think up a plausible explanation. "I met him in the park, by the lake. He was really angry when I told him about what's been happening at school. His name… His name is Kasai."

Walking up in front of the mirror after locking his bedroom door, Yukio was unsurprised yet worried at his mirror image's appearance. "Is that blood?! What happened to you? Did I get you in trouble?!"

Despite the pain and worry he felt, and because of the knowledge he couldn't do much, Yukio smiled at the mirror. "Thanks for what you did today. I mean, we certainly showed _them_!" he laughed aloud, before his face assumed a serious expression. "You're bruised far too often."

"Ah, something else," Yukio added. "I'm going to call you Kasai from now on. I think it suits you."

It troubled him that his reflection stopped smiling before he did.

* * *

 

"Can you hear me?" Rin asked. "I don't know if you can hear me…" he admitted to the boy in the mirror, the one that had bruises all over, too.

"Don't worry about this," Rin gestured to the slowly closing wounds all over him. "It will heal soon. It's just that, I've been training for so long and I haven't killed a single demon. I mean, yeah, I've injured them, but I don't really like the idea of killing them… Does that makes sense?"

As usual, no answer from the other boy.

"And today it happened again, and, well… Father got angry." Rin shuddered. Today he learnt just how terrifying his father could be once his patience had reached its limit. "He lets Iblis-nii and Lucy-nii do as they want, but I'm the only one who's training all day, and I never do anything right."  _Except Samael-nii, but according to Father he left some 200 years ago,_  he wanted to add but didn't. It felt good to vent. "I think once Amai-nii managed to make Father angry too…" he mused before remembering what he was going to say.

"Did I get you in trouble too?" Rin asked the other with wide eyes. Did discipline work in Assiah the way it did in Gehenna? "I'm sorry..."

Rin stopped, thoughts crashing together. He had to apologize, but he didn't know…

Rin. And the other?

His name.

He has to have a name.

_He has to have my name._

Rinrinrinrin.

_My mirror._

Yes.

_He's the skilled left hand…_

The sound of the mirror of their names rang in his ears and he-

"I'm sorry, Len."


	5. Crack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kasai and Len wonder about their future

_Age: 13_

* * *

 

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the greatest of them all, maybe fire maybe snow, Kasai are you gonna…" in the middle of singing (not very good) his improvised greeting for his mirror image, he stopped in his tracks.

Yukio stared into the mirror. His reflection looked worse than ever. Blue eyes were tired and ringed by dark shadows. There weren't as many bruises, but Yukio wasn't sure that meant anything. Because he'd seen Kasai's bruises fade while he watched, seen deep cuts steam until only smooth skin was left.

Kasai was a demon, so he healed quickly. It didn't mean the wounds never happened. Or that deeper wounds weren't left behind.

"You need to take care of yourself better," said Yukio. "I know it's hard."

He imagined it was a lot harder in Gehenna, as it was hard enough for him here in Assiah. But, he had taken his father's advice and Kasai's example to heart. At school, spending all free time approaching the teachers to ask questions and offer help with classroom chores kept him safe enough. On the way home... Well, he was getting taller by the day but not exactly muscular. So, he had learned to out-smart his tormentors. Avoid them if possible. And, if not, he'd found that well-aimed punches with the element of surprise were quite effective. That was the reason for the scattered bruises across his person today.

"I've been thinking," the boy started, choosing to pick a light topic for the day. "If I am to be an exorcist –which I haven't decided yet- I don't know whether to pick a Dragoon Meister or a Doctor one." Yukio sat down in front of the mirror and hugged his knees, watching as the dark-haired boy did the same and his tail wrapped around him. "In fact, I don't even know if I want to be an exorcist…I may continue normal school and study to be a regular doctor. But let's get real, when your dad is the Paladin…" Yukio let out a chuckle and trailed off. The glasses-clad boy watched as Kasai's mouth moved, his gestures becoming more frantic and tail swishing in agitation.

"Are you alright, Kasai-kun?"

* * *

 

"Rin and Len, left and right, up and down, black and white..." sang the prince of demons idly as he walked up to the mirror, making no mention of his injures. Rin wasn't stupid, he had seen the way his reflection's face transformed even as the wounds healed themselves. Instead, he forced out a grin. "Hey, you almost got no bruises!" he said joyfully. "You're getting better at avoiding those idiots, ne?"

After spending some time chuckling, imagining the ways the fight could have gone, the young boy's expression changed once again. "Can I talk to you about something..?" he asked in a somewhat timid voice, debating with himself whether he really should. In the end he decided his reflection couldn't rat him out anyway.

"I don't think I want Father to conquer Assiah, Len," Rin confessed as his tail twitched in nervousness, half-expecting Satan to already know about his rebellious thoughts.

"I don't like him, you know," he spoke in a hushed whisper, giving voice to the half-formed thoughts he had had since he was four years old. "I'm always training my tail off, for what I don't know, and it's always not enough."

The young demon tried to loosen the tight knot on his stomach that had formed since he started talking. Though Satan was a cruel, cruel demon, he usually left his sons untouched unless he was pushed to the limit. As long as their loyalty was unquestionably to him and served him dutifully, they were free of doing what they pleased. But that was the root of the problem, wasn't it? Satan had always been strict with Rin, and the boy didn't want to find out what would happen if he was caught having second thoughts about how his father… well, was.

"I believed it was because I'm a prince, but none of my brothers ever did that, and even if I inherited Father's flames, I know how to control them, yet I still train all day."

Rin paused for a second to look over his shoulders, then resumed his tirade as his gestures became more frantic. "If he gets Assiah, he'll destroy everything. And I'm sure you wouldn't like that and your father would die and you'll be sad and Father probably won't listen to me and…" he stopped to take a few deep breaths, willing the idea taking shape in his head to stop, because what would happen to him if his mirror image died?

"Assiah seems nice." The dark-haired boy sat as the frantic beating in his chest died down, tail wrapping around him. "I would like to go there someday…"

More calmed down than before, yet still troubled, Rin stood up and waved to the boy in the mirror. "It's just a pipe dream anyway. Thanks for listening, Len."


	6. Goal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One thinks of himself as a person.  
> The other thinks he's the reflection.

_Age: 15_

"…his name's Mephisto then? Do you think he might take us to Assiah?"

"I don't think Father will ever let you." The King of Earth answered. "Besides, you need a vessel to go to Assiah, and if you are anything like Father it will be next to impossible."

Rin gave him an annoyed look. "I can change my looks to appear more human. Watch, Amai-nii!"

His older brother's eyes actually widened in surprise as he saw the dark-haired boy lose his flames, his ears becoming less pointed as well as his fangs less prominent. For the final touch Rin hid his tail under his shirt and put on one of the strange contraption Amaimon had seen in some humans in Assiah. "Well this is new," was the one thing he said.

"You do believe me, right? About Len," Rin inquired about the topic he had been trying to convince his older brother of since he was four. Amaimon raised an eyebrow. A few decades before the second-youngest demon had been expressionless, but hanging out with the highly expressive Rin made him copy some of his mannerisms.

"Well, it can be a way for you to have learned about that." Amaimon commented as he pointed at the black thing on Rin's face. The boy's face absolutely lit up with joy. He looked in the mirror. "He still looks kinda worried (it's the same every time I get out of training) but now he's scowling at you. I don't think he likes you very much." Rin commented the doings of his reflection casually.

"And I assume that this 'Len' is a human weakling?"

Rin's smile inverted into a scowl as his flames reappeared. "Don't just mindlessly judge people as you please," he growled out.  _That's my job._  "Len is my human, of course he's strong!"

"Are you going to tell Father about it?"

Rin's growling ceased immediately as he paled a bit. "Hell no!"

"You'll never be able to move forward if you're afraid of soiling your hands." His older brother opined, before he added, "Though I can see why you're reluctant. Even so… What do you want to do?"

"Wha-? Kasai-kun, what is he doing here?" Yukio had entered his room with a small smile, intending to tell the other his eventful day. That expression had quickly morphed into concern when he saw Kasai injured yet again. It had changed once more to pure annoyance when Yukio noticed another demon in the mirror's surface.

"Heavens no. Kasai-kun, make him go away. This is private!" Yukio went so far as to make shooing motions with his hands.

Thankfully, it seemed like he had gotten his message across, because soon the green-haired demon wasn't there anymore and the only people there were two reflections. Sighing, Yukio took in Kasai's slowly healing cuts before he saw his appearance. He was somewhat surprised to find his reflection's hair was black, and not blue as he had originally thought. Having blue flames surrounding his body did make a difference. He decided Kasai made a pretty decent human boy, makeshift glasses and all.

* * *

 

Having shooed Amaimon out of his room Rin squared his shoulders and his face broke into a grin the instant he saw Len.

("What do you want to do?"

What do you want to do? Do you have any plans? Where do you see yourself in the future? What do you like? What do you do in your free time? What makes a good day? What does "pleasant" feel like? What do you feel?

_Who am I?_

"I don't know."

Disappointment, Rin knew. Father wanted him to be the best, and indecisiveness is not a desiring trait. It's for the best, but how can one decide if they don't know anything?

Who am I.

Who am I.

What am I?)

"I want to get out of here." He said with startling clarity, determined blue eyes staring back. "I want to get out of here, because… I don't know anything. I don't think I've ever lived at all, have I?"

Do you know what I'm talking about?

* * *

 

Yukio looks at Kasai and sees someone else.

Rin looks at Len and sees himself.

* * *

 

A while after he had seen two people inside the glass, Yukio purposefully stepped in front of his mirror and squared his shoulders. He could see Kasai looking back at him. As had become the norm, his reflection's eyes were tired but brightened at the sight of Yukio.

"I've enrolled in the exorcist classes," he told Kasai. "It's something I feel like I need to do. Not because of who my father is. Because..."

He had rehearsed this, but he still stumbled at the next part. He wanted to be sure Kasai understood. Because Kasai was real. Not an illusion or an imaginary friend. Yukio was too old for those, and he had done his research. Gehenna was the mirror of Assiah, so in that twisted logic, Kasai was his mirror. Maybe such a thing was unprecedented, but with Kasai's obvious heritage, that wasn't surprising.

"Because of a lot of things," Yukio said finally. "And, because of you." Kasai's face, which gotten more tired and hard with the years, told him all he needed to know about Gehenna. "You have Satan's flames, so that means you must be royalty. A prince of sorts." He said, though reconciling the images of royalty he knew with the goofy-smile boy from his childhood was hard. "And I don't think lower-level demon would try to hurt you, which leaves Satan or ones under his rule the ones hurting you."

"I don't like people hurting you, Kasai-kun," he said in earnest, knowing the feeling was mutual. It would be next to impossible to not have attachment to his own mirror. "That's why…" he trailed off on the next part. Saying it aloud would make it realer, more impossible to achieve. However, Yukio was sure he could. "That's why I will defeat Satan, and free you."


	7. Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The windows between words can always weaken.

_Age: 15_

* * *

 

Yukio stepped inside the classroom with a smile on his face and wasps in his stomach. He distinguished his roommate already, a short boy with glasses named Miwa Konekomaru. Aria material, of that he was sure.

All the other people he didn't recognize, and his eyes were already darting from place to place looking for potential allies and potential predators –those were the moments Yukio was glad he was taller than most, it was hard to bully someone who could stare you down-.

Four guys, two girls. In the row closest to the door but furthest back sat a kid all by himself, fiddling with some sort of rabbit-puppet. There were two girls deep in conversation, a relatively normal brown-haired girl and a twin-tailed one with the oddest pair of eyebrows Yukio had ever seen.

Two boys were with Miwa; one was a two-toned boy who gave off the appearance of a punk, and the other was a pink-haired (obviously dyed) boy who was laughing in an easy-going fashion.

It wouldn't be a repeat of his middle school days. He could do this, he would defeat Satan and make a hole in the space between dimensions (somehow) and he would free Kasai, like he had tried to do so long ago. And this time, he would succeed.

He was good with schoolwork, and that would allow him to get to his goal faster. He would become better. Stronger. Faster. Smarter. Better.

The words pounded in cadence against Yukio's brain. This was merely the first step, if he was determined to beat Satan, he had to try and socialize for a change. A good Exorcist didn't work alone, after all.

He absentmindedly noted the teacher wasn't here yet, and repressed the urge to sigh. If this was his dad's class - Demon Pharmaceuticals and Marksmanship- he was bound to be at least five minutes late.

Yukio took a deep breath and glanced at a glass nearby for a second. Seeing the target of his goal staring back at him helped dissipate his nerves.

He smiled. He would be okay.

"Hello! I am Okumura Yukio."

* * *

 

Rin knew he was not good enough. Not strong enough not smart enough, not quick enough, not _enough_.

It rapped against him, a dull chorus; he didn't think much about this for it was as obvious as the earth go round the sun and his head hurt every time he thought too much about that; but whenever he tried to put those feeling into words everything came out wrong, twisted and turned beyond recognition.

Blue eyes glared at him, Rin's cheeks were wet.

Oh. He had been crying.

_Why…?_

Apparently he was not well.

* * *

 

"YOU STOLE MY DREAM!" The boy with the two-toned hair that basically screamed 'look at me I'm cooler than you' yelled at his face, not long after his friends had told Yukio about his goal.

"No I didn't, my dream's original." Yukio calmly assured Suguro, or Bon as everyone called him. He was feeling quite frustrated with his attitude, but even so, Yukio wasn't copying Bon, at the core of his goal.

He'd brave anything— _anything—_ to help his demon friend. Even the thought of having to share a classroom with those people didn't dampen his mood. He'd have secrets, he'd hide things if he had to—he wasn't made for deception, but he'd…he'd try.

Suguro Ryuji ended up with broken ribs after his stunt trying to stare down a Reaper.

* * *

 

It was funny. Even though Len was his reflection, Rin felt as though he was invisible. Unnoticed. The one in the background that no one cared about. That was called the wallpaper, right?

Atelophobia: By definition is the fear of being imperfect, of not being good enough.

_Come back. Please. I don't know what I did wrong._

Self-destruction: [ **self** -di- **struhk** -sh _uh_  n] Noun. The destruction or ruination of oneself or one's life.

Contrite: Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

_Sorry._

* * *

 

Yukio was content to spend time with Shiemi, and occasionally talk to Shima –the pink-haired one- when he wasn't in one of his 'girls girls girls' mode. It was quite amusing to watch, actually.

One day, Yukio caught himself referring to them as 'friends', and found out that he meant it.

Yukio supposed Kasai was busy, though it didn't stop him from staring at the glasses in Cram School or normal school, or in mirrors or in anything, waiting for him. It was incredibly unnerving to not have a reflection, though luckily it didn't happen very often.

"…the djinn are a type of demon which exist mainly in Turkey, though there have been sightings in Japan recently…" Fujimoto Shiro continued with his lesson, casually reaching for a Bible another teacher had left on the desk.

It was incredible that he never saw himself (getting ready for the day was to comb his hair and such until Kasai gave him a thumbs up), but he was used to it. He had to deal with it all his life.

"As it attacks when its prey is asleep, normal people call this phenomenon 'sleep paralysis'. Therefore-" he then threw the heavy book at his daydreaming son, hitting the boy with a precision that left the rest of the class speechless.

Yukio promptly fell off his desk with a startled scream.

Without missing a beat, the Paladin continued his lesson. "You need to pay attention, as this information will serve you well."

Yukio glared at his father.

Shima burst out laughing.

* * *

 

Rin would watch Len making acquaintances and interacting with others, this time without hostility nor fights in the middle. Funny. Even his reflection wasn't paying attention to him.

Oh.

This is how a heart beats.

Breaks.

* * *

 

Suguro and Koneko would be Arias, and so would Shima. Shiemi and Eyebrows-chan (Yukio had to stop calling that in his head, lest it slipped out) turned out to have a great affinity with summoning demons. Suguro, like Yukio, would pursue two Meisters at once, with Dragoon being the other.

Three Arias, two Tamers, one Dragoon. And Yukio filling out the spot left as a Dragoon and a Doctor.

Yeah, they could make this work.

The workload of having to pursue two Meisters was incredible, and even Yukio found it hard to keep up sometimes with all the homework he was given.

It should have come out as no surprise that he forgot to look in the mirror.

* * *

 

_I'm right here._

Rin wanted to shout.

_Look at me._

* * *

 

'What was Tou-san thinking, locking us all in here?' Yukio wondered as he fled down the hallway trying to get to where he had put his gun while leading half of the Naberius away from the others.

He was an idiot. His father had given him a gun for his birthday –Yukio suspected Shiro somehow knew he would choose the Exorcism path- and he had left him somewhere in the old abandoned dorm. He suspected it was in one of the bedrooms… Yeah, he was sure it was the bedroom closest to the kitchen.

* * *

 

Rin had a bad feeling in his gut the whole day. Pacing endlessly in his bedroom, he was soon joined by a bored Amaimon, who didn't need much to deduce what was wrong with his brother.

"Did he leave me?" Rin thought aloud, placing his own Assiah-contraption-thing in his pocket.

'No. Never.' Amaimon answered absentmindedly.

"Where is he then?"

'I don't know. Close.'

"Why doesn't he come back?"

'I don't know. Far away.'

"Why didn't he tell me anything?"

'You are an annoyance. Grow up.'

"Len…"

'Do something productive.'

"Nothing to do, nothing to do but wait until he comes."

'Call someone. Find him. He could be hurt.'

"Who would hurt him? Is he alright?"

'Nobody. He's fine.'

'Why doesn't he come?"

'He's busy.'

"Too busy for me?"

'I don't know.'

"Comeherecomeherestepinsidetheglassmymirror."

'Stop muttering.'

"Nothing to do."

'Go outside.'

"And do what?"

'Find him.'

"Nowhere to look."

'Do something else.'

"What?"

'I don't know. Train.'

"Nothing to do, nothing to do but wait. Where is he? Why won't he come? What happened? Did he leave me? Does he not love me?

'I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.'

"I've got to see him."

'Who?'

"Len."

'Why?'

"I don't know."

* * *

 

Good news, Yukio found his gun. Bad news, Yukio had wasted the six bullets he had and the thrice-damned demon was still after him. Stumbling, dizzy with terror, Yukio turned straight to a door, and found himself cornered. Wall, wall, wall with a mirror and the Naberius coming for him.

Stupid. Unforgivably stupid.

Panic gripping him, Yukio threw a desperate glance at the mirror and slammed his bloody hand on it, not thinking entirely straight.

"Aren't you the son of Satan?" he uselessly asked at desperate eyes staring right back. "Call the demon off! Help me! Please, help me!"

* * *

 

Rin cursed himself as he realized that he cut his hand in his haste on going to the mirror. Trusting his instincts, he peered into the glass, fearful eyes mirroring his own. Icy cold fear gripped him as the demon prince took in the scene before him.

"Len!" he screamed out, hoping against hope his reflection could hear him. "Len, the Naberius!"

The demon was about to lunge, Rin could see it, and he never felt so useless in his life. Tears of frustration formed in his eyes as his flames went haywire, engulfing the mirror. "Len, the Naberius! Get away from there!"

Blood dripped from it and blue flames enveloped the reflective surface. For better or worse, humans are full of blood. Enough blood to paint lips and even circus tents. Certainly enough blood to destroy a mirror.

Len was in trouble. Len was strong, but Len was only a human, and he was in trouble.

Gripping the mirror so tightly the frame creaked in his hands, Rin shouted back to his human.

"Run! You can't fight it with that!" He wasn't running. Why wasn't Len running? "It's a rot demon! You need fire!"

Though he didn't see any way Len could make a fire.

Len needed him. Rot demons were nothing against his flames.

Suddenly, Len's face disappeared, and the Naberius' rotting, gray skin filled his view.

"Len!"

Rin felt his flames roaring around him, felt the metal frame of the mirror bending under his hands.

None of it mattered. All that mattered was that Len was going to die, and that could not happen. Len needed him.

Len needed him.

For an instant, he saw a flash of Len's blue eyes, wide and scared even as he swung his gun at the Naberius. Len was strong, and Len wouldn't stop fighting, and Len was going to die.

The Naberius filled the mirror again, moving in for the kill.

Desperate, Rin threw himself at it.

All of a sudden, Rin tumbled down, crashed into something soft, and on a hard surface…

And all he saw was blue.

When he regained his vision, he was greeted by the sight of a quite big burnt mark directly in front of him, and his flames dying out on the unfamiliar room.

"You!" an equally unfamiliar voice exclaimed joyfully.

Rin looked to the side, and two pairs of blue eyes looked at each other on the same side of the mirror.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reflections meet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One: Rin's surname means 'reflection'
> 
> Two: In case you didn't notice, Rin's got issues.

 

Blue. It was the only thing he could see, a vivid blue and a warm sensation, almost like a blanket enveloping him. Then, the flames cleared.

There was another boy with him, and his heart leapt to his throat. Yukio had thought it was useless and that he was going to die but somehow Kasai had crossed over and had saved him.

Yukio stood up on shaky legs as he drank on the sight that was as familiar as –well, as looking in a mirror, but different all the same.

The young demon was panting rapidly as blue flames died down, leaving only a burnt mark in front of him –Yukio had been knocked aside.

Black hair, blue eyes, tail slashing the air in agitation –as Kasai stood up Yukio could see he was shorter than him-, fiery eyes moving in every direction, probably just as confused as him, and- Heavens, it was all so surreal.

"It's you!" Yukio breathed out, giving a hesitant step on unsteady legs. Kasai whipped around –blue met blue.

* * *

 

Rin looked to the side and everything seemed to  _freeze_. He looked around, it was cooler there, the air fresher, colors muted...

The room was unfamiliar. The very air there was unfamiliar. The face he saw as he whipped around, though, was definitely familiar.

Len stood pressed against the wall, his eyes wide, the odd thing on his face askew. "Kasai-kun?" Rin furrowed his brow, tilting his head slightly, "Who?"

Len blushed and mumbled "That's what I called you."

Hands shaking, Rin turned right back around and firmly pressed his hands against the mirror. Nothing but a cool, smooth surface. Demons weren't supposed to exist in Assiah without a vessel, yet...there he was.

 _Hell…_ Rin thought with a shiver.  _Father's going to kill me…_

"You'll need to hide," Rin jumped, his heart going a mile a minute. He had been so engrossed in that though he hadn't realized Len had walked up to where he stood. At that distance, Rin could see the moles that decorated his reflection's face, the faint worry lines on his face, the eyes so similar to his own.

In answer, Rin quickly hid his demonic features as well as tucked his tail under his shirt. For good measure, he fished the contraption-thing out of his pocket and put it on. He smiled at Len. "See? No problems and no burning now."

Len smiled back. "Good."

The embrace that followed caught Rin off guard but, after an initial stiffness, he let it. Let Len's mantra of 'thank you's and 'I thought I was gonna die's wash over him. There was something so warm, something that felt right, smelt right. He let his body sag, his muscles become loose. In that embrace he felt his worries loosen their keen sting and optimism raise its head from the dirt. Perhaps the hope had been there all along, but without some love it was trapped, like a reflection in a mirror.

The prince of demons had been hesitant, half-afraid that something bad would happen if he dared to touch his mirror image. He was glad he was proven wrong, and he finally had confirmation over one fact:

"I know what this is…" Rin whispered out too low to hear, basking in the concern on Len's tone, on his touch. “It’s a hug, right?”

* * *

 

"I can’t believe it," Yukio whispered to his reflection, unwilling to let go. "You are here."

After they had separated, Kasai seemed to have found the will to speak again. "My name is Rin, but…you can continue calling me Kasai if you want."

"My name is Yukio, and same."

Later, Yukio would find out that the other referred to him as Len, but, remembering the predicament he had left his classmates in, he pushed the question to the back of his mind.

They stumbled into the classroom a few minutes later, now with Rin holding his 'broken glasses' on his hands. "Where's the demon that followed you?" Bon asked urgently, giving Yukio a little shake.

* * *

 

Rin figured out something.

Len was him, but as it turned out, he was also his own person. It was spelled out in the way he gestured his goodbyes, fingers stiff, crossed together like a promise and his presence whispering a plea for a second chance.

Len…Yukio was his own person in the way he reflected in the bicolor-haired boy's eyes. Concern. Caring. A friend. How did it feel?

Sometimes it seemed like Len was his own person.

Rin was the reflection.

* * *

 

"Got him," Yukio reported. "You guys?"

"We got ours too," Shima replied.

"Good," Yukio said, looking back to his friend.

The two-toned haired boy immediately went to the defensive. "Who are you and where do you come from?" Bon asked, looking at the black-haired boy suspiciously. The boy seemed to shrink under his glare.

"I-I'm…Rin." The smaller boy finally said, gaze sweeping to where Shima was. Yukio noticed the pink-haired boy mouthing something to Rin. After a second, he got it. He was mouthing 'Surname'.

Rin was staring blankly at Shima, clearly confused. "I'm Rin." He repeated. "Kyōei Rin. Rin Kyōei."

"He's a friend of mine," Yukio quickly said, "Who missed the enrollment deadline by… a lot and wanted to ask Pheles-kyo about it. I'd asked him to meet me after our study time." He smiled at the truth of his next words. "He came at just the right time to give me a chance with the Naberius."

Rin perked up immediately at that.

"Moriyama's still unconscious." Izumo noted. "Okumura-kun, we need to give her some treatment…"

"Do not worry my little students!" Mephisto declared strolling into the room. Several other Exorcists of the True Cross Order popped out of the ceiling and closets. "We have everything under control!"

Fujimoto immediately stepped around Mephisto and went to Yukio.

The headmaster beamed at the group. "You've completed the exam! Surprise!" He snapped his fingers and a banner unfurled. "Congratulations! You're all Exwires now!"

The shell-shocked class, and Rin, glanced from Mephisto to the Doctors who were loading Shiemi onto a stretcher. None of them seemed to have a clue as to how they were supposed to react.

"Exam?" Yukio looked to his father in confusion.

"The Exwire exam, obviously." Fujimoto smiled. "You all did well." He paused and looked at Rin. "Who is this?"

"Tou-san, this is Kyōei Kasai-kun, my friend." Yukio introduced the shorter teen. He was smiling as if trying to replace the sun.

"Actually, my name's Rin." The black-haired boy chimed in. Yukio resisted the urge to sigh.

"Kasai's a nickname." He clarified. "He was going to meet me after our study session and came in while I was dealing with the Naberius."

And, suddenly, he wondered if any of the teachers had seen Rin's arrival. It was obvious now that they had been watching.

Fujimoto opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the headmaster.

"Now," said Mephisto, "let's get everyone to the infirmary to make sure our new Exwires are in top shape!" He swung toward Yukio and Rin. "Your friend too, Okumura-kun." His eyes twinkled, and his smile was knowing. "We wouldn't want him coming to any harm."

As they made their way to the infirmary, a hand shot out and grabbed Yukio's wrist, white-knuckled, strong. Rin's eyes were wide as they walked.

"They…You… You're not in trouble, are you?" Kasai asked him, looking too tense, wound-up.

"No, Sai-kun, we're not in trouble. Don't you worry," Yukio tried to reassure him.

"What's going to happen to me?" Rin queried the eccentric Headmaster, feeling a talk was in order once they got this mess sorted out.

"You're going to join the cram school, of course!" Mephisto answered.

"You're letting him be a part of the cram school this late in the year?!" Shiro asked incredulously.

"Why not?" Yukio interrupted. "I've seen Kasai-kun train, and I think he'd be a pretty good Exorcist." He then smiled. "More specifically, a great Knight."

Rin caught his eye and both bit their cheeks to keep themselves from laughing. Satan's son training to be an Exorcist…

Even so, he'd have to have a talk with his reflection. And this time, he'd answer back.

* * *

 

A few steps behind, the Kyoto trio made their way to the infirmary.

"Well that was pretty unusual for Okumura-kun." Bon broke the ice. "He never told us about Kyōei-kun."

"Yeah, they seemed very close." Konekomaru offered.

"I bet – what if – what if they're dating!" Shima whispered excitedly.

"You pervert!" Bon yelled. "There's no way!"

"Okumura-kun and Kyōei-kun, sitting in a tree-"

"SHIMA!"


	9. Where you deceive and I'm sincere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reflections deal with the consequences of being both in the same side

As they were separated, Rin looked worriedly after Len/Yukio. Then, he focused on the demon in front of him. And, he knew the man was a demon despite his obvious familiarity with humans. There was no mistaking the signs no matter how the other demon tried to hide them under his strange, gaudy clothes.

"I must say this is a surprise," Mephisto purred, keeping his voice low. "I never imagined I would meet my youngest brother so soon."

Brother?

Rin looked at him with wide eyes. "Are you Samael?"

"Of course!" Mephisto grinned. "But, please, I go by Mephisto Pheles here."

Rin already knew that.

"Now," he tapped his chin, "you'll need a place to stay." He snapped his fingers. "Ah! Why not… There's a whole old dorm unoccupied! Far enough away to protect the students, and plenty of room!" With another snap and a puff of pink smoke, a pair of keys appeared in his hand and he shoved them at Rin. "These are keys to your room and to the exorcist cram school. Take care not to lose them."

Dumbfounded, Rin fumbled for the keys. This was happening way too fast for him.

"Also," Mephisto leaned closer, voice a whisper, "please mind those flames of yours. They're quite rare on this dimension." His smiled was fanged. Then, he straightened. "Well, then! I'll see to your paperwork. I expect good things from you and Okumura-kun."

Mephisto turned abruptly, flouncing down the hall. He gestured for Rin to follow with a "come hither" look over his shoulder and a two finger beckon. Rin shivered involuntarily. He had wanted to meet that particular brother for a while...but now he wasn't so sure.

"Wait!" Rin shouted after Mephisto. The older demon was the only person who could possibly answer the question that had been floating in his head since he fell through the mirror. "You know who I am, so do you know how can I be here without a vessel?"

Mephisto turned his head to look at him. "Perhaps you don't need one," he said. His eyes dropped to Rin's bleeding hand. "Or maybe it's something else entirely."

* * *

 

As they were separated, Yukio locked eyes with Kasai and then spent the remaining time glaring at the headmaster's back.

The times he had seen the man-  _the demon_ , his mind supplied unhelpfully -he was always wearing a grin that bordered on creepy, and there was always a hint of malice behind those eyes. Now, there wasn't just a hint. The mad smile was nowhere to be seen to hide the coldness rolling off of Mephisto in waves, sending shivers down Yukio's spine.

He didn't want the demon anywhere near Kasai.

"Yukio, who is this kid?" Shiro didn't beat around the bush as soon as they were out of earshot.

Yukio blinked. "I already told you, he's Kyōei Rin, a friend of mine..."

"Why haven't I met him then?"

"Kasai's…I mean Rin's father…he doesn't let him go out. At all. So, every time I met with him it'd have to be near his house, the park for example, and in short periods of time." Yukio looked over his shoulder anxiously. "We wanted to meet up, but the timing was both inconvenient and very convenient to me. He's a friend of mine. He saved my life. I wouldn't lie to you, Tou-san."

Yukio stared at his father in the eye, trying his damnest hard not to give himself away. Shiro was the first that broke the eye contact with a sigh.

"I know you wouldn't." Fujimoto said regretfully. "I was just suspicious on to how he got inside in the first place. Some of the exorcists were saying there was strange in the room the Naberius chased you…some sort of light…"

Yukio's breath hitched, though relaxed once again when the priest didn't say anything else.

He questioned whether having his identity hidden from his father was a good thing. After all, Kasai was the offspring of the worst demon in existence, and those blue flames were evidence of that.

Kasai should be the worst of them all. The son of Satan himself, the angel cast from heaven, the worst demon of all - Kasai should have been worse than every demon combined. He could be trying to manipulate Yukio, for all he knew.

Yukio saw him every day, yet he didn't know him. And yet…

And yet.

The reasons Yukio could think for not exposing Kasai went from purely logical  _(He's my mirror image. He is me and I am him. He saved my life_ ) to the purely emotional ones  _(I have known him all my life. He doesn't seem to be bad. I feel like I know him. When we embraced it felt like his soul touched mine saying **'trust me'**  –even though demons aren't supposed to have souls-._)

"Well I wouldn't know, would I?"

* * *

 

"A new student this late in the year?!-"

"He'll have to take tests for all the classes in both normal and exorcist school, not to mention you jumpstarted him into being an Exwire already-!"

"I see why you are worried, Shiro and Neuhaus, and I think I have just the solution for that!" Mephisto told the two humans who were currently expressing why they didn't agree with his decision.

Shiro had a feeling that he wasn't going to like this.

"Why, Okumura Yukio will stay with him as well!"

"WHAT?!"

"NO!"

The teacher and the Paladin stared at Mephisto, eyes wide.

"Pheles-kyo, Okumura-kun is one of my most promising students! Having him relocated to other dorm will surely disrupt his routine, and by extension, his grades!"

"Yukio already has his own friends, and let me tell you it's a first for him! Even if he tries to tutor this Kyōei boy, his relationships with the other students will suffer!"

Needless to say, Mephisto tuned them out rather quickly.

* * *

 

After inspecting every inch of his new living quarters, he stepped in front of the glass.

No reflection. It was like he wasn't even there. Legs weakening with realization, Rin sat on his new bed, of his new bedroom, of his new house, of a new world _._

It was incredible, just that morning he was in Gehenna preparing for the day. _Father won't be pleased…_

_Stop._

_Don't think like that._

_Shove it away._

_I escaped._

_Incredibly._

_Unbelievably._

He was in another world. He had accidentally stumbled over to Assiah. He had met yet another older brother. He had saved Len from an untimely death.

Len. Or was it Yukio, now? No, no, Rin could perfectly call him Len, the boy had given him his permission after all.

Rin had never expected to be able to reach him, the illusions he held as a child had been but soft dreams. Even so, there he was, with Len. The one who noticed him even as he was too caught up in the confusing events to truly understand what was going on.

He hoped his mirror image would come soon, for he had quite a lot of questions that nearly demanded to be answered.

He had seen people with the same odd face thing Len had. What was its purpose?

What was a surname? He had picked a word at random.

What did Exorcism entail? If it ensured Rin would stay in Assiah then he had no complains about it.

What did it mean, that he could be a good Knight?

Rin was uncertain on how to behave in this strange new world. Some part of him was expecting that he would wake up at any given moment. Mulling on this, he turned to his new roommate. Okumura Yukio "Len".

The other boy was watching him with barely hidden curiosity.

"It's hard to believe you're really here," he said.

Rin nodded, suddenly unsure what to say first. "It's hard for me to believe too." His tail twitched under his shirt, tickling his skin. "There's about a million things I want to ask you."

Len half-smiled. "Same here."

A somewhat awkward silence followed.

"So what's your favorite color?" Yukio tried to break the ice, before mentally slapping himself at the dumb question. As seconds passed and Kasai didn't answer, he wondered if it had been too obvious. "Mine's green."

Kasai looked at him almost questioningly. "Mine's… red, I think."

"You think?" Yukio chuckled, already thinking up his second question. "What do you like to do in your spare time?"

Kasai's breath hitched. "I don't know." He finally answered.

Yukio was, to put it mildly, stunned. "You don't know?" he parroted back. Even he had things he liked to do in his spare time, namely playing videogames and reading Jump Square once a month.

"So," Rin started with the one question that was bothering him the most, "you're here at this exorcist school place. Did you... know about me? You know, that I'm a demon?"

Yukio watched his reflection - his friend - shuffle anxiously and look at him with searching eyes. He smiled. "I knew. And, I wanted to become an exorcist to save you."

Kasai's blue eyes widened. "…What?" he breathed out, slowly shaking his head. "To save me?"

Yukio nodded, lips twitching. "Yes. The way you were treated isn't right, and I wasn't about to stand by and let you be hurt. If everything went according to plan, I would defeat Satan and free you. Though you did half the work for me." He ended with a chuckle.

Kasai's eyes grew seventeen times their size. "You want to defeat Satan?! …I-I mean," he hastily corrected himself. "He's a  _God_."

"Oh, I know." there was a confidence shining in those eyes that made Rin pause.

"Are all Assiahers really that mad?!"  _Why would you go through all that trouble? i'm just your reflection._

Yukio forced out a smile. "Pretty much. Satan's the enemy of all mankind, if you didn't notice."

Rin's lips twitched up. "Good point. Now it's my turn to ask: What the hell is that on your face?!"

In Rin's perspective, Len had barely time to react before the black-haired boy reached out for them, analyzing the thin frame. He didn't expect Len to make a blind grab into the air as in inspected the glasses, becoming more and more frustrated. "Aw, c'mon!" Len complained suddenly, and the sudden change in his character was enough to shock Rin. The brunette leaned towards the other, apparently losing his composure. "Kasai-kun! I NEED THESE GLASSES TO  _SEE!"_

His normally calm and composed reflection was standing there with a dark look of rage on his face. Rin felt a chill go down his spine at that look, immediately swearing to himself that he would never,  _ever_  do  _anything_  to cross the other boy. He didn't ever want to be on the receiving end of that glare.

"To see?" Rin parroted back as he gave Len the aforementioned 'glasses'.

"Yes, to see," there was still a frown on Len 's face as he put them back on. "Sometimes, people are born with an impaired eyesight, and we rely on glasses to make up for it." He trailed off, looking at him with almost as much curiosity as Rin himself felt.

"To see, huh…" Rin trailed off as he chose one bed and sat on it. "That's cool."

Yukio's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Huh?"

"Well, yeah!" Rin's volume grew a tad as the other sat on the bed opposite of his. "Yeah, people might think you're weaker than them by having to depend on those, and might underestimate you. Besides, having poor vision makes it so you can resist hypnotic powers from some demons, as long as you take them off, right?"

The human boy blinked. Once. Twice. "I've never…seen it like that…"

"Well it's true!"

* * *

 

Curled up under the covers with his reflection snoring softly next to him, Rin stared at the darkness as he tried to absorb everything that had happened. Len had babbled for about half an hour before succumbing to sleep about a lot of things Rin might need, how far of an education did he have, that they needed to go shopping for clothes, and so many other stuff. But Rin was still fixated on one small fact.

He was in Assiah. He was in Assiah with Len, and Len - Yukio - knew who and what he was and had still wanted to save him. Had vowed to  _defeat Satan_  to save him.

Which was impossible. A human defeat Satan?

But, Yukio had been willing to try. For him.

Rin gnawed at his lip with his fangs. That was... It made him feel somehow tiny and huge inside. Overflowing. And, warm. A warmth that didn't come from flames.

Someone would that for him. Yukio would do that for him.

Long before Len had fallen asleep, Rin had made his decision. He owed Yukio, and if Yukio still wanted to defeat Satan, then Rin was going to help him.


	10. Where I'm safe and you in danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin's first day of school. Hilarity ensues.

"Okumura-san!"

"Yuki-kun!"

"Oh God why," Yukio bemoaned to the heavens, having been about to start on his lunch.

The day had progressed at a snail's pace, with Rin accidentally breaking his alarm clock ("How the hell isn't your first instinct to punch it, Len?"), in class numerous times Kyōei Rin had been called out, his answers either being insecure or merely a blank look ("To be honest, I think Len knows this one. Why not ask him?) and now, Yukio's fanclub.

Rin had been busy in his own little world, when he was snapped out of it by the arrival of three girls who stood like a formation. He jumped back.

"Yuki-kun! Fancy meeting you here!" One of the girls chirped. Len acknowledged them before glancing over at Rin. The young demon wasn't exactly sure of what he was doing, but the confusion cleared once the middle girl opened her mouth.

"Oh wait! You're the new transfer! You sure this is the right school for you kid? It's not like the topics will get any simpler just because you have trouble after all." The girl closest to Yukio said haughtily as her friends crowed similar questions. "Ne, Okamura-san, why are you sitting with him anyways? You sat beside him in class too."

"Of course I am with him, he's my friend." Len replied. Rin noticed his voice was icy. And his hands were shaking too.

"We wanted to show you how good our cooking has gotten." The third girl explained.

"Look," Yukio held his hands up in a placating manner. "I appreciate you going through all the trouble of making a lunch for me-" he was about to continue with an excuse as to why he couldn't eat with them, since 'I'm eating with my friend' didn't work, but he was interrupted.

"Sorry, he's taken." Rin growled out, annoyance rising in him. What did those girls wanted with his reflection anyway? "Besides I can cook for him so you're not needed."

It took a few seconds for him to realize what he had said. The last time he checked, cooking was for servants. However, if those girls and their food became a regular occurrence…

Well, he was willing to try.

Looking at those females, he mentally tried to decide to which demon he'd hand them over when the time came. Would he be able to Judge in Assiah? Yeah, it wasn't exactly his perfect plan, but at the very least he was with Len.

"You can cook?" Len asked as he pushed up his glasses. To Rin's confusion, the girls widened their eyes and one of them even took a step back.

"Of course."  _Not_.

"Great!" Yukio smiled, and Rin's resolve strengthened. "I'll pick up some ingredients later. I have to go shopping anyway…"

* * *

_"I'll have to rush to the market to buy some ingredients, and perhaps some books on cooking... Kasai-kun seemed to like wearing glasses growing up, so maybe I can buy non-prescription ones as a 'It's-Great-We-Finally-Met'-present... I do have to find a way to thank him for his help with those girls. Wait what will he do while I'm gone? Does he even knows the material? What if-_

"Okumura Yukio-kun!" the yell startled him, back going ramrod straight as he jumped. "Yes Fujimoto-sensei!"

Shiro was looking at him in a strange mixture of amusement and disappointment. "Earth to Yukio, didn't you hear? Go to your books and turn to page 394..."

The glasses-clad boy sighed as he took out the aforementioned book, an identical pair of blue eyes following his every move. "He had to call you like three times before you answered back." Rin told him as he leaned forwards to peer at the book. "I was getting worried..."

"You don't need to. I'm stronger than you think." Yukio replied, not quite managing to hide a silver of bitterness in his voice. "My reflection is the Son of Satan, after all."

Rin didn't reply right away, but Yukio could see the beginnings of a smug glint in the other's blue eyes. "You haven't seen me fight."

"I know."

For his part, Rin tried to concentrate in the chapter they were supposed to be reading, but there were a few problems with that. One, learning passively has never been his forte -he liked to think of himself as a thinking-with-his-feet kind of guy. Two, he had no idea how he was supposed to behave in a classroom. It didn't help that the attitude of the other students varied greatly; from attentive and hardworking (cock-hair and bald kid a few seats behind) not exactly caring but not showing it (Eyebrows-chan over there) not exactly the most attentive of the bunch (blond girl and pink boy) or simply, that they had the smarts or so it seemed, yet for some reason they lacked either motivation or they were suffering from thoughts overload (and that particular label went to the boy he affectionately called Len).

Rin liked to label people. It made behaviors predictable after a while. Besides, he needed to have a generalized point of reference if he ever was to become a judge. Or, since he had promised to Len, he could try his hands at cooking...

"I already know this." his reflection mumbled while staring listlessly at the book. The black-haired boy followed suit, scanning the contents of the page.

"I do too." Rin mumbled back. "Since I was ten, really. Why are you even learning this, this is just the bare bones!"

"Then, Kyōei-kun, please speak up. Who is Abezethibou?"

It was Rin's turn to jump and stare at the father of his counterpart. "Huh?"

"Enlighten us." Shiro repeated, and Rin forced himself to focus on the human before him, to force frantically-moving eyes to still. He wasn't used to being in the spotlight so suddenly.

"I believe Len can answer it-"

"Such it may be, but I asked Kyōei Rin, not Okumura Yukio." Shiro said curtly, glasses flashing in a way that reminded Rin of the boy sitting next to him. He didn't know how to react. He was a reflection, he was supposed to reflect light instead of absorbing it. He was supposed to be the unseen.

It was only dawning on him now that, on trespassing the mirror, he had not only been able to meet his other self. He had become a little more real, a little more  _there_ , as well.

Sighing, Rin steeled himself and looked into his memories of those long, pointless lessons. "Abezethibou is a one-winged demon who works under Beelzebub, the King of Insects. He is one of the Fallen. His domain is Tartarus, where the damned souls reside. Humans say he drowned at the Red Sea, but that's ridiculous. After all, Beelzebub claimed that when he Abezethibou is ready, then he will come in triumph."

"Kasai-kun, that's enough." Len said sharply.

Rin stopped and looked first at Len then to Shiro.

Shiro was eyeing him with a single, arched brow. "Yes, that's enough," he said. "It's good to know that you've already familiarized yourself with the material, Kyōei-kun. But, please don't think everything taught here will come from books."

"Uh, right." Rin slouched back into his seat, relieved as Shiro turned his attention back to his own book.

The rest of the class was uneventful. At least until it ended, and Rooster-hair was suddenly there, eyeing him.

"Where'd you learn all that about Abezethibou?" he demanded. "Half of it isn't even in the textbook!"

Rin stared at him, uncertain.

Beside him, Len was glaring. But Pink Boy, standing behind Rooster-hair, spoke before he could say anything, laughing lightly.

"Don't mind Bon, Kyōei-kun," he said. "He's an over-achiever and wants to know your study secrets."

"Oi!" Rooster-hair half-turned to glare at the pink-haired boy.

Bald Kid piped up then from the other side. "The part about Beelzebub claiming Abezethibou would come in triumph was interesting though. Where did you learn it?"

"Uh," Rin searched for an answer. "It was part of the lessons I got on demons back home. I don't know what book it was in."

"Are you from an exorcist family too?" Bald Kid asked.

Rin choked down a snort at the irony. "Not... exactly."

"His family has connections to the exorcist world," Len put in as he stood, sweeping his textbook into his schoolbag. "But, Rin will be one of the first exorcists in his family."

Rin blinked at his friend and then grinned at the truth of that. "That's right! I'm gonna be the best Knight there is."

"At least he has realistic goals," Eyebrows-chan chimed in. "Unlike some people..."

Rin stared at the pigtailed girl in confusion before he remembered one of his conversations with his counterpart. "Ah, yes, two of you are gonna defeat Satan, right?"

Both Rooster and Len fixed the other with a competitive glare that left no room for doubt. Rin nearly laughed at the display but held it in. He didn't want Len mad at him.

"Ne, Kyōei-san," a blonde girl with green eyes intervened. "Why are you learning exorcism?"

"Why, to be with Len of course!" Rin answered, and wasn't that the sincerest he could be. The pink-haired boy made an odd sort of noise, somewhat like a squeal, which attracted odd looks from his classmates. Rin paid them no mind, being focused on the girl's familiar. "Is that a baby Green Man?"

"Yes, his name is Nii-chan..."

* * *

 

If someone had told Yukio he'd somehow be carrying a lot of grocery bags, and shopping to buy glasses that were not his, he'd have laughed. But that was a few days ago.  _I wonder how he'd like them... Perhaps some frames similar to mine..._

He ended up deciding for dark blue frames. As he made his way back to the school, now saddled with a new gift-wrapped package, he stopped once he looked in a mirror of a displaying store.

No reflection at all. It was incredibly freaky, and not only because he knew his own reflection was somewhere else, studying with Shima. The more he looked at the mirror, the more...off it seemed. At one point, he'd call it translucid. At another, that he could actually see ripples in the reflective surface. It was simply strange.

And as he reached out, his hand didn't meet a smooth cool surface. It went right through it, with blue light coming from where skin made contact with glass, and he...

He couldn't pull away.

He couldn't pull away.

He was wrist-deep inside the mirror, and he couldn't pull away. It was met with some sort of resistance, and Yukio forced himself to calm the frantic beatings of his heart.

He could pull away, after an eternity.

He didn't spare the mirror a second glance as he ran back to school like a bat out of Hell.

* * *

 

It soon became quite apparent to Rin that Shima wanted to do anything but study.

"You and Okumura-kun have known each other for a long time, huh?" at Rin's confused look, Shima explained. "Me and Koneko have been friends with Bon our whole lives, and, it's just something you notice."

"Oh, well...Yeah. Since I can remember."

"So, -this is a question me and Koneko have been wondering... are you and Okumura-kun boyfriends?" the pink-haired boy went straight to the point. "It's okay if you are, I won't judge."

Rin blinked, tail twitching inside his shirt. Did the Shima boy meant what he thought? "Boy friends?" he was about to say yes, but for a split second he panicked. "I think...I don't know, I haven't asked him yet." the demon answered, shifting uneasily. He had to ask Len that, right? Yeah, what if he was under the assumption that things were this way but in reality they weren't? Oh Hell, what if he had said something he shouldn't or behaved wrongly around him.

"What do I do?" Rin inquired, more than a bit desperate. The pink-haired boy smiled. "Well, Kyōei-kun, you have come for advise to the right guy..."

"You gotta be upfront. Be bold! And don't underestimate the importance of body language, ha!" Shima said while doing an odd little dance.

This would be an interesting lesson.

 


	11. Where you succeed and i mess up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The results of Shima's lesson.

Yukio shut the door behind him with a sigh. The groceries bags he clutched in his hands were heavy and beginning make his fingers ache. His thoughts were consumed by the portal he had just discovered through the mirror. He had so many questions, questions he wanted, no, needed answered. _Can I actually enter Gehenna? Is it Kasai-kun and I's connection through the mirror? Is that why there's a Gehenna Gate? More importantly, am I the only one who can go through it, or can others too?_

Yukio trudged into the kitchen, stocking up the fridge with plenty of food for Kasai to work with. He had been unsure between soy milk and regular milk, so he ended up getting both. Of course, maybe Kasai hadn't cooked with Assiahn ingredients like he had in Satan's castle. The thought made Yukio freeze for a moment, swallowing the thought of eating entrails and drinking blood (is that what demons feasted upon?) Either way, Yukio chose to put away his his fears and take a breather.

* * *

 

Usually, when he had the luxury to go to Assiah, Amaimon would spend the time he had relieving his boredom, preferably going to annoy Aniki, as Mephisto did have amusing reactions. He loved those moments.

This was not one of those moments.

His youngest, weakest brother was missing, and nobody had a clue where he was, or more importantly, how did he manage to go to Assiah. Amaimon wouldn't admit it, but he was a bit concerned for his littlest brother. Father had looked ready to rip his tail off and choke him with it, so no, Amaimon didn't envy him.

Now, should he alert Iblis, Egin and Mephisto? Those three had never seen the prince in their lives, but on the other hand, they could be of help.

 _'Hell, Rin,'_  Amaimon thought as he perched himself on a tree to look around,  _'Where are you?'_

* * *

 

Rin sat on the chair with a weary sigh, finally letting his tail free. A dull ache spread from the back of his eyes to his head. Information overload. Shima's lesson had been confusing, overly complicated. Who knew there were so many rules in Assiah?

"Len, are you here yet?!" for a few seconds, he reveled on the feeling of peace and quiet. Hell knew Rin didn't exactly like being surrounded with many people or with too much noise. Demons had better hearing than humans for a reason.

"Coming, coming!" he heard Len yell back, and footsteps down the stairs. "Sorry I took so long, there was a queue a mile long." the door opened and Rin was greeted with the visage of his not-so-identical reflection.

"Ah," the demon prince answered lamely. Now he remembered. He had to focus on making a great meal. What did Assiahers eat anyway?! Was there something Len preferred?

"What's that?" Rin asked instead, pointing to a wrapped package that Len had (unsuccessfully) tried to hide. Len turned an interesting shade of red.

"It's a present." Len answered curtly.

"A present for what?" Rin inquired, taking the rectangle-shaped package. "It's not the Blue Night."

Len dragged a hand over his face with a sigh. "I wanted to thank you for helping me with those girls and, you know, to celebrate your arrival. Open it."

Rin had been staring at him with a big smile on his face, before tearing the paper apart and opening the holder. "Woah!" Rin cried out in happiness, immediately putting the glasses on. "Len you didn't have to... I-I love it. Thank you!"

Len merely chuckled in return. "You look just like me,"

"Well, I'm supposed to, aren't I?" Yukio didn't think there was a way Kasai managed to wipe the smile off his face. He decided to tell him about what happened with the mirror later.

After Kasai finished inspecting the glasses, he tilted his head back to stare at Yukio instead. Impulsively he twisted around and kissed Yukio sloppily. Yukio drew back in shock.

Kasai flinched. "Isn't that what you do with someone you like?" he asked sounding years younger than his actual age. His tail that had begun to uncurl from his leg dropped. "Or is that just female humans? Shima told me-"

But of course it had been Shima. Yukio reached out and caught Kasai's arm before he could withdraw completely. "No, yes, I mean no, that's not how friends show they like each other, but yes I like you."

That kiss, Kasai might have been fifteen years old, but that kiss had been like a little kid imitating something he'd seen with no comprehension of what it meant.

"Also, word of advise?" Yukio said as he went to the kitchen, with his reflection following, "Always take all Shima says with a pinch of salt."

"Huh?"

"Oh, it's a figure of speech. It means to listen to a story or an explanation with considerable doubt...Which you should do with Shima." Yukio said as he sat on one of the chairs.

"Why should I do that with Shima?" Kasai inquired as he did the same. "I asked him how...heh...how should I ask you to be my friend, or boy friend as he put it." he trailed off with an embarrassed expression which was halfway expecting.

Yukio shifted in his chair and looked at the shorter boy in the eye. "First of all, don't ever doubt you're my friend. Second of all, what Shima told you wasn't really about friendship. Boyfriends, and boy friends with a gap have different connotations in Assiah." he continued on hen he heard the demon's confused noise. "Boy friend with a gap is about friendship and such. Boyfriends, as Shima thought you were asking, have connotations of us being a couple." the boy with the black glasses finished. As he took note of Rin's expression he continued on. "Dating. Going out with?" he tried to think up synonyms. "Courtship."

That seemed to do the trick, as Rin's eyes, now dulled by the glasses, brightened with understanding before a look of horror took over his features. "Court... Oh.  _Oh._  Oh Hell I'm so,  _so_ sorry!"

In any other situation, Yukio would have found the reaction comical and reacted accordingly. "Hey, it's okay. I guess I'll have to teach you our way of life and such. We don't want something like this happening again, huh?" truth to be told he didn't have time to feel much. It had all been a misunderstanding. "In fact, something happened on my way here that I think we need to study."

"Fine, fine," Rin said, still red in the face for the revelation of the recent events. "Hey, I got it. To make it up to you I'll cook dinner today. Okay, Len?"

"Okay!" the smile he gave him made him feel warm again.

* * *

 

The day after, Kirigakure Shura was interrupted with her talk with her mentor in an unusual way. Namely, Shiro assuring an hysterical-with-worry student -later learned to be Kyōei Rin- that food poisoning didn't mean that Yukio was going to die.

"So," the Knight started after the black-haired boy had gone and Shiro had more or less calmed down. "Four-eyed chicken got a four-eyed boyfriend, or what?"


	12. Where you move on and i'm stuck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bon discovers a bit of Rin's past.

"How did it go?!"

If Rin had been half-awake before, he definitely wasn't now. Shima had popped up in front of him with the biggest grin on his face. For a second he had thought Shima was baring his teeth at him. It made Rin feel strange. So this is what a good smile was like. Bright. Wide open.

"So, am I looking at Okumura-kun's Kareshi?" Shima asked. Bon sent him and exasperated look and Koneko leaned over in interest.

"I think I misunderstood..." Rin answered as he sat next to the pink-haired boy. He pulled up his glasses with slightly shaking hands. His reflection's absence made him antsy. "I asked for advise on friendship, not courtship."

Still, it angered him that friendship and courtship were so different there. Didn't humans have the concept of possession? No matter if he was called Yukio, or Len, he was  _his_.  **His**  friend,  **his**  other half,  **his**  reflection!  ** _HIS!_**

Shima's grin disappeared in a flash. "Wha- You should've said something!" Well this was awkward. He now owed Koneko 100. Damn.

"Are you clinically insane or incredibly annoying?" Izumo asked from where she had tried to concentrate in the back of the class.

Shima shrugged. "Don't know. Probably both." He then turned to Rin. "Do you really not know the difference between friendship and flirting?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

A shrug. "Guess I was kind of sheltered."

"Why me, though? Why not ask anyone else in the class?" Shima was honestly surprised. Just what that boy had been thinking? Sure, Shima was always with Bon and Koneko, but Rin could have asked someone else, someone more trustworthy.

"I wanted someone to give me advise. We're friends, right? That's what friends do."

Friends? Shima had met the guy barely a month ago, and already they were 'friends'? It seemed a bit soon to be so familiar with each other, but maybe Rin didn't know any better? He had said that he'd been a bit sheltered—to the extreme, it seemed—so maybe that could explain his strange behavior.

"Next time, Kyōei-kun, ask for clarification." Shima said, reaching out to give him a light smack to the head. Rin tensed, coiled up like a snake, his grin frozen in place. Shima stopped in turn. After a few moments, Rin seemed to win whatever mental debate he had, because his grin turned more genuine.

"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?" Rin merely repeated something Len had said once. Konekomaru hid his chuckle with his hands.

Shima wasn't amused as he took Rin's glasses and smacked him with the fame. The black-haired boy blinked. "You hit a guy...  _with_  glasses... Heh heh, that's, that's well played."

* * *

 

"Kyōei Rin doesn't exist."

Those were the words that shook Yukio out of his pained daze, how he had been after puking his guts out. His fever had broken a few hours ago, and he was determined to never again taste Kasai's food. Well, not until he had improved a bit.

Those words made him sit on his bed, horror and anticipation flooding him. "What?" he managed to croak, staring up at his father who was sitting beside him. (when had he come?). His expression melted into a frown. "Did you just looked up information about Rin? What's next, Konekomaru and Shiemi too?" he blurted out. His illness was making him irritable. No matter if Shiro thought that was for his own good, that was a massive violation of privacy!

"There's no medical records, no birth certificate, no enrollment in school, and he isn't reported missing or has been in any orphanages. I have checked." Shiro told him as he leaned forwards, worry clear on his face. "Yukio, who is this kid?"

Yukio blinked. "I already told you, he's Kyōei Rin, a friend of mine..."

"How did you meet him?"

The spotted boy looked in his mind for the first lie he had told his father. "At the park. He taught me how to defend myself. I told you this. Tou-san there's no way he was lying. We were  _ten years old_!"

"Where does he live then?" Shiro continued on.

"I don't know." Yukio answered honestly. "He's never told me, but he hates it there. Sometimes, when we met up, he'd be... Heavens, it was just  _so bad_ \- His family hurts him." he said when he could regain his wits and not see in his mind's eye those countless times. "They  _hurt_  him, and I'm not letting him get back there."

Shiro looked at his only child with surprise. He hardly expected Yukio to be this intense about it. He could keep looking, but if he took Yukio's words into account, maybe it was a kidnapping... Hadn't Yukio said Kyōei's father never let him out?

The man sighed wearily. He was an Exorcist, not a police officer.

* * *

 

The black-haired boy sighed. "Let's try again. Būšyāsta is..."

"I wrote that she's the hypostasis of laziness and idleness. She is the cause of procrastination as she strives to keep the righteous from performing productive tasks. She lulls the world back to sleep and "makes the faithful forget in slumber the hour of prayer'." Bon reread what he had written, thankful that Kyōei had agreed to study with them. As the saying went, if you can't beat them...

"So basically she's a high-ranking demon that makes humans fall to Sloth, one of the Capital Sins." Shima summarized, lazily reclined in his chair.

"Pretty much." Rin said with a grin. "She's usually described as yellow, or golden or green. Write that down, too. She tends to go to Assiah at night, and just before dawn breaks, she rushes from the north murmuring "Sleep on, O men! Sleep on, O sinners! Sleep on and live in sin."

"Again with the quotes, you have to lend me some of the books you have sometime!" Bon reached out a hand towards Rin and his pencil fell out of his hand, landing on his notebook with a loud clatter. The smaller boy recoiled from his hand, not going so far as to push his chair back, lest that anger him, but flinched back and then dropped his head and became still and tense, waiting for it.

Nothing came.

There was no painful blow, no strike on the face.

The last time anybody had reached for Rin like that, it had been with the intent to strike him. So he waited for Bon to do it, too, but it didn't come.

Rin chanced a tentative glance up at the two-tone haired boy.

"Kyōei-kun?" Bon's voice was surprisingly gentle. "Is there anything wrong?"

Rin shook his head, eyes back down his homework. He wasn't able to meet his eyes. You see, Rin had rules when times got rough in his mind, honed by years in Gehenna and his days in Assiah. Number one: Don't attract attention. Didn't matter if it was good, bad, or in between, attention was the last thing you wanted. Which was hard for Rin. His eyes were too bright. His behavior was strange. His social skills were sub-par. Some teachers were singing him praises. He got good grades in some subjects yet he was abysmal in normal school. Well, it did make sense. He was a reflection, a poor copy of the original.

Rule number two: Don't make it personal. Be it a fight or a punishment, when things got rough, you didn't try to push your luck in hopes of being spared. That never worked out. If you had to talk to them, you just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Please please please please please.

Number three, and maybe the hardest rule for Rin: Never think about how you got there. Because it didn't matter anymore, how you got there, it only mattered that you were there and that you had to get out of there.

So yes, Rin had survived and learned the rules and played the game, like he always had in Gehenna.

Except now, when he had messed up. Rin bit down, hard, on his lip, shaking his head even harder, as if he did, it would convince him.

"You flinched," Bon commented quietly.

The black-haired boy shook his head again, silently denying it.

The scraping of Shima's chair suddenly cut loudly through the thick, heavy silence and Bon and Rin both glanced up.

"Eh," Shima waved his hand. "Carry on. I'll just, eh…go check on what…Izumo-chan is doing…" and he scooted on out of there.

Rin couldn't tell if he'd done that to give them some privacy or because the situation was making him uncomfortable, but either way, he was enormously grateful that he'd left. Now, if only he could get Bon to drop it, it'd be okay.

"Kyōei-kun…" Bon reached out a hand for him again.  _Please please please please._  He seemed to think better of it, because he dropped it halfway through, letting his hand fall on the table instead.

Rin stared determinedly at the table. He wasn't letting him win this one.

"You acted like you thought I was going to hit you," Bon said, tone urgent, as if it was some great, huge secret when it really wasn't.

Rin peeked up at him, then instantly regretted it. His eyes were firm and determined. Bon wasn't letting him out of this. Rin squirmed slightly in his seat. He wasn't letting him out of this. "It's nothing, Suguro. I mean, it's normal after all, right?" he would've attempted a laugh had he not been fighting the desire to cry or vomit.

Blue eyes fell back on the table. He couldn't keep looking at the other boy. Everything about him subtly urged the prince to let go of the lies and for once tell the truth about himself. And Rin honestly wanted to. He did. He wanted to tell him everything.

But…

"Then…" Bon began to press, but Rin closed his eyes and forced out more words, another lie.

"You know there are all sorts of people in the world. I got into fights with them sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Bon challenged. "You must be very used to being hit."

The black-haired boy sighed. "It wasn't always people my age. A few times it was adults."

Rin couldn't look at him. Everything he was telling him was true…but different.

Bon's brow cleared, but Rin caught anger in his eyes. "Adults?! Are you kidding me?" Bon practically leaped off the chair and began pacing around the room in a fury. "Are you KIDDING ME? What kind of person does that? Who would just... just hurt their own kid? What kind of heartless-?!" Bon flailed about helplessly, looking for anything he could take his anger out on. "If I were there, I'd... I'd...!"

"Hell, e-even Father did that all the time. What's wrong with that?" Rin asked. The young demon thought about standing up to show him he was ready for this conversation to be over, remembering Bon really didn't have any authority over him.

Rin rose from his chair, it scraping against the floor. Bon stilled completely, seemingly trying to organize his thoughts.

There was a silence, a silence so long and loud and thick that Rin guessed Bon must've forgotten him, and forgotten he was there, but when Bon next spoke, he looked directly at him and whispered sadly, "So much."


	13. Where you're recognized and I'm mistaken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Exwires have their first mission.

Fujimoto Shiro wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing. Sure, Rin didn't seem like a bad kid, always looking out for Yukio and trying to help him. He had noticed that Yukio had to share everything with him.

Did his family not have the means? Maybe that's why he had the textbook memorized, he must want to remain in the school -even Mephisto had given him a free scolarship!

And now, with the revelations on how his family treated him... Well, it was more of a favor.

Blue eyes looked at him anxiously. Being asked to stay behind in class would cause that to you.

"Say, Rin, do you want to protect Yukio?"

Rin frowned. What an odd question, of course he wanted to protect Len! Rin wanted to be able to protect the boy from the creatures that tormented him. If there was anyone more important to him, the first on his list was definitely Len. "M-me?" he whispered. "Protect Len? Me?... I  _do_  want to protect him!"

"You'll need the equipment for that."

* * *

 

Tic, tock, went the clock.

Yukio watched his reflection idly working in the kitchen. It had been three days, and Yukio had agreed to eat Kasai's food yet again. (Eyebrows-cha... sorry Izumo thought he had a ridiculous amount of trust in Rin, but shh, don't tell him that).

He should probably tell him. But then Kasai would worry. But nothing had happened. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He took a deep breath.

"I almost fell through the mirror a few days ago."

SMASH, a broken plate. The black-haired boy  _whirled_  around, paler than white.

"It was when I was getting you your glasses..." Yukio continued, noting the half-demon's shaking hands. "It couldn't pull me all the way, obviously. But it's actually easy to repel, look-"

He wasn't even sure why he extended his hand to the mirror. Maybe it was because Kasai might not believe him -as had Shiro when he talked about his friend in the mirror and all the ones growing up when he claimed to see things that no one else could- but he still did. It was an impulse.

"NO!" the brown-haired boy startled terribly because Kasai hadn't been there a second ago. The next thing he knew, he was being physically shoved away from the reflective surface. Kasai's eyes were wild, intense, desperate. "You don't get it you're mine you're mine he can't take you from me." Rin gasped, babbled. "You're never going there, you hear me? NEVER!"

For Rin, it boiled down to simple facts. Len was human, and strong but it wasn't enough. Rin was a demon, more physically capable of taking whatever Gehenna threw at him. He both couldn't and wouldn't imagine Len in Gehenna.

He abandoned his world to be with the boy behind the mirror. If they ever switched places, it would mean that his self-imposed task hadn't succeeded. And failure was for the weak, and Rin was so weak already, but he wouldn't fail this time.

He had to protect Len. Thing is, he didn't know how.

* * *

 

When Yukio was woken up at 8 on a Saturdy for his first ever mission, he was excited, imagining all sots of scenarios that could happen. But of course, his father being who he was, didn't tell him that exwires started with missions by doing what basically were glorified chores.

Yukio had to do manual labor, a simple enough task, a supply mission. For what he could gather, the others had similar chores to do. Shima had to do paperwork for five hours, so Yukio counted himself lucky. Shiemi and Bon had cleaned the Leaper's cages. And Rin... his official mission was to go hunt the Coal Tars all over True Cross. When Yukio found him, he encountered Shiro  _wheezing_  from how hard he was laughing, and Kasai doing the World's Greatest Coal Tar Pyramid.

But now finally -finally!- they would do a real mission.

After spending a few minutes glaring up at his laughing, sorry excuse for a dad, Yukio tried to focus on the mission. "Sai-kun, where did you get that sword?" he asked with no little amount of interest. He had noticed Bon, Koneko and Shima eyeing it as well.

"Oh, your dad gave it to me!" Kasai said with a bright smile.

Shima almost did a double take. "Wait, the Paladdin himself brought you a sword?!" he half-yelled, "Why can't your parents buy you o- OW! That hurt!" the pink-haired boy shouted out after he was smacked in the back of the head, courtesy of Bon.

"Yeah, I don't have any money so-"

Trusting Kasai to not get himself in trouble, Yukio turned his attention to his remaining classmates.

"Sorry we're late!"

When Yukio glanced up at the sound of Shiemi's voice, he didn't see her at first. Sure, there was Izumo Eyebrows-chan with a peeved expression running behind this blonde girl in the class uniform, but—

And then he focused on her face and  _holy shit that's Shiemi_.

He was on his feet before he even realized it. "M-Moriyama-san, where is—why aren't you wearing your kimono?"

"I kept tripping in it; it's not very good for missions, so the Chairman issued me a school uniform. We're late because Kamiki-san was showing me how to wear it properly!" She fidgeted with her skirt and blushed as everybody remained silent a heartbeat longer. "Does it…look weird?"

Kasai, much to Yukio's dismay, was the first one to respond. "No, Shiemi, you look absolutely adorable!"

"You look very nice today, Shiemi-chan," his Tou-san said, and he was just about ready to smack him when he noticed how genuine and not-perverted his smile was.

Rin was amusing himself watching the male students' reactions to Shiemi. Honestly, had they never seen a girl before? That didn't stop his eyes from being drawn to her skirt, or her boobs or— _look at the face, Rin, look at her face._  She had a very pretty face. And neck. And that ribbon was really cute, and her boobs were— _Rin, face!_

"…wait, is my little Yukio-chan actually staring at a woman's breasts?" He heard Fujimoto whisper almost too low to be heard.

SMACK! The sound was Len giving the teacher a smack, looking completely unamused.

"Why would you  _do_ that?" Fujimoto cried, the sound muffled behind a hand. "What happened to respecting your elders?"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Rin growled at his teacher. "It's perfectly natural, Len's in an appropiate age in which to mate-!" he would've continued but Len's face was tinted red with embarassment. Rin wondered why. Had he said something wrong?

After Shiro had regained his composture, he split them up in pairs. Yukio and Konekomaru, Shiemi, Shima and Izumo -Rin laughed at Izumo's look of horror- and Bon and Rin.

His horror to the fact that Len and him hadn't been paired together had to be pushed to the back of his mind as he listened to Shiro. "There have been several reports dealing with sightings and attacks of a ghost on the premises of Mepphyland, the Academy's amusement park. As part of your group training, you Esquires will be participating in the search. If I may have a definition of a ghost?"

Izumo Eyebrows-chan raised her hand from where she stood.

"Kamiki-chan, go ahead."

Hand dropping, she nodded sharply. "Of course. Ghosts are demons that possess the vapor released by dead bodies of humans and animals alike. Typically, they are characterized by the strong emotions that the deceased had in life."

"Very good, Kamiki-chan," Fujimoto praised. "Sightings have occurred all around the park apparently at random, so we have no predictions as to its next location of appearance. However, its form is always that of a small male child, and attacks have been limited to grabbing hands and feet. However, if allowed to continue, its behavior could grow increasingly dangerous. You should spread out," he continued, "in your pairs and try to find the ghost before sundown. Should you find it, inform me via cell-phone."

* * *

 

Rin had been going about his business, searching the amusement park for the troublesome ghost when things went straight to hell.

"There you are." an all-too-familiar voice spoke up from above.

Rin thought he was having a heart attack. "Nii-san, not  _now_." he growled out before fully turning around. Rin shifted so that he was shielding Bon, his right hand cocked and ready to pull his new sword out.

"Who are you?" Bon asked.

"Oh? That's right, I'm Amaimon, a Demon King. You could say that I'm his big brother. Nice to meet you."

Bon sucked in a breath behind him. "The King of Earth," he whispered, and Rin knew without looking that his eyes were wide. Rin's own eyes narrowed.

Amaimon had redirected his attention to Rin. "Is this the 'Len' you were always on about?"

"What? No! Why are you here anyway?!" the boy shouted. "Call the Paladdin." he whispered to Bon.

"Father is pretty angry about you leaving. So I've been tasked with retrieving you." Amaimon shrugged.

Behind Rin, Bon paled at the implications. The King of Earth had said he was Rin's 'big brother'. And he had referred to his father. So maybe Rin had demonic blood in him. Nobody knew who the mothers of the Demon Kings were, and Rin's mother couldn't be a demon, because the likelihood of her giving birth in Assiah was very low. Rin had a human form, and was able to stay in Assiah. Therefore, the only alternative was...

Rin paled. "We both know what's going to happen if I go back..."

"Same thing as me, if I go back without you."

"Hear me out!" Rin shouted before the older demon could try to retrieve him by force. "Stay in Assiah!"

That, at least, got Amaimon interested. "What?"

"Stay in Assiah! With Samael. We both get what we want, in the end..." Rin hated to resort to this, but he couldn't return home. He wouldn't.

"Under one condition." the demon said. At Rin's questioning look, he continued. "Play with me for a while."

The King of Earth and Satan's Son engaged in a battle, leaving Bon with his thoughts. Because how do you react to knowing that one of your friends is the offspring of humanity's worst nightmare?

* * *

 

Iblis, Demon King of Fire, had been very keen on looking for his youngest brother. After Amaimon's little -Playtime with Rin, it was clear that the Exorcists would keep a closer look on him -he almost pitied the boy, first time in Assiah and look where he ended up! Not only the Exorcists headquarters, but training grounds to boot! Apparently, his younger brother had not only inherited their father's flames, but luck as well. Still he could understand why he wouldn't want to return so soon. Assiah was entertaining.

Ah, the number of times he had ended up with one of his many vessels accused of pyromaniacs...

Even so, he wanted to see his youngest brother.

And there he was, walking down a street. Blue eyes, those glasses he had no need for, just a bit of checking... There it was, that little bit of hidden power (it was dim enough for Iblis to worry -had the Exorcists done something to keep his powers hidden, or he was just that good at his mask?).

"Ototo, how are you?"

In retrospect, sneaking up behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder wasn't the smartest idea. The boy jumped. "I'm sorry, you must have confused me with-"

"By the  _flames_ , Rin, does Iblis ring any bells?" the red-haired demon asked -he liked vessels with that hair color, it reminded him of his own flames. The boy's face slowly morphed from confusion to recognition.

"How did you find me?" he asked. "How do you even know who I was?" they kept walking side by side, Iblis noted critically, the boy was very trusting as to not keep his eyes on him on all times.

"Once I sense someone, I remember it. I know we haven't properly met before, but... Wait, you don't know?"

"Know what?"

Iblis felt like he was going to explode. "Father didn't tell you? I was the one that took you from Assiah! And here I was wondering why you never kept in contact with me..."

The younger one had stopped dead in his tracks. "You took me from Assiah as a baby?" his voice was shaking. Iblis felt as though he shouldn't have reveled that information, but it was necessary. Rin needed to know his body limits and strengths!

"Why, yes!" he answered. "As a half-human, you are able to exist in Assiah...what, didn't you wonder why you need no vessel?"

"I think...I need to go." well that wasn't the reaction Iblis was expecting, but then again, he had just dropped a bombshell on him. The boy turned back the way he came, before he dazedly turned his head to look at the older demon. "Also, Iblis? If we ever meet again, don't use that name, okay? Call me Kagami Len."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reflections are reflections for a reason. Even Iblis mixed Rin and Yukio up.  
> Why hasn't anyone said anything about the Vocaloid reference in the fic?  
> So their 'fake' names... Rin's is somewhat of a pun in Right Reflection, while Yukio's is one of Left Mirror.  
> Review please!  
> H. O. I.


	14. You and me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people are on the secret

Yukio's mind was spinning after his encounter with Iblis. Not because a demon king had mistaken him for his mirror image, Kasai. Not because he'd spoken with a demon king.

It was because of what that demon king had  _said._

_"I was the one that took you from Assiah!"_

_"As a half-human..."_

Taken from Assiah. Half-human.

Kasai was half-human. He wasn't a full demon. He belonged in Assiah, had been stolen from Assiah.

Yukio remembered the way Kasai had shoved him away from the mirror when he tried to demonstrate how it had pulled at him. Remembered Kasai's wild, desperate eyes. At the time, he had been too startled by his friend's frantic, frightening display to do more than promise that he wasn't going anywhere. Now, he wondered.

Did Kasai know he was stolen at birth? Is that why he been so fierce about the possibility of Yukio sharing his fate?

They needed to talk. Soon.

* * *

Fujimoto Shiro had thought all his life that Yukio had been an easy enough child to raise. Yes, he was more intelligent than most, yes he could see demons, yes, there had been that issue of the imaginary friend.

But then he had grown up, found friends, a path in life, even a boyfriend (or, so the rumor mill said. Now that he suspected of his son's sexual orientation, Shiro felt like the slap he had been given was absolutely justified).

And now, Shiro thought that maybe, the worst was yet to come. When he had first seen the babe, it had stuck him as a perfectly normal newborn. One with very potent lungs (he had cried nonstop for what seemed like hours until he finally fell asleep) but normal. Then, a very moody toddler -then the imaginary friend appeared, and Shiro chalked it up to loneliness.

They hadn't even needed to block his powers.

Now, after what happened in the amusement park, he was certain he had made a grave mistake.

When Shiro had arrived, he found the Demon King of Earth (The  **King of Earth**! Didn't Mephisto have wards that prevented demons of trespassing?!) 'playing' with one of his students, Kyōei Rin making good use of the sword he gave him -not that he wasn't very much injured-, Suguro Ryūji a few feet away from the scene, and Okumura Yukio emptying his gun in direction of the aforementioned King of Earth, nearly hysterical with worry.

What worried Shiro the most is that, before he arrived, he had been able to see blue.

Yukio didn't have any powers, but that didn't mean they weren't dormant, or that Yukio was a late bloomer. And having his (boy?)friend attacked would certainly be something that triggered an intense emotional response.

He would have to keep a closer eye on Yukio from then on.

* * *

They were in one of the common rooms in the dorm. Konekomaru was sipping his milk with honey, Bon was trying to memorize what they'd been asked to revise for the next few classes, and Shima was waxing poetics about how great it had been to be partners with Shiemi-chan and Izumo-chan. Bon was only half-listening to that tale, because of three things. One, he could predict more or less what came out of Shima's mouth regarding Izumo. Two, memorizing, even if you're good at it, required effort. And three, one Kyōei Rin and his stunt earlier that day had his mind confused.

"...at least I didn't have to deal with a Demon King." Shima was saying. "I think he has some bug kin, and that wouldn't have been nice." he shuddered. Almost immediately he perked up. "How did that go anyway? You two were pretty quiet about it." the pink-haired boy looked at his friends. Rin had been elected to go to his room, the poor boy could barely stand anyway (Bon tried to push away from his mind the image of the bloody black-haired boy, frantically asking if Bon was okay as the blue glow retreated inside him).

"Amaimon is the King of Earth, so I'm sure there would be no bugs even if he had brought his kin." After his quip, Koneko and Bon exchanged a glance, wondering who should go first.

Bon hesitated before speaking. "Well, I think it was sheer luck that we aren't dead."

"Wasn't the Paladin the one that drove him off?" Shima asked, Aria homework forgotten for the fifth time in twenty minutes.

"That's the thing, the Paladin didn't arrive at the scene right away," Bon revealed. "Up until then, it was Kyōei-kun who was fighting with him."

Koneko nearly spit his milk. "Wait, what?"

Bon could see why the bald boy was confused, he would have been too. Rin, holding off a Demon King? The guy wasn't a slouch by any means in Knight classes, but leaving that aside...

"Yes, Kyōei-kun held him off long enough for the Paladin -and you two- to arrive at the scene." Bon clarified. "I couldn't see him  _move_  sometimes."

"How is that guy not a Middle class, then? Oh, wait, I already know." Shima's immediate self-contradiction almost gave Bon whiplash from how fast his head turned to look at him. "He'll probably say something like he intentionally held back to 'be with Yukio'." he finished in a bad impersonation of one of the youngest members of their class.

"He calls him 'Len'." Koneko corrected out of habit. Yukio had been absolutely mother-henning after the fight was over. Koneko understood why Shima thought of them as a couple.

Without more clues, Bon knew Koneko would be turning the issue over and over in his mind, but he simply didn't have enough knowledge. His eyes found themselves again on the Bible before he made a split second decision and he closed it with a snap!

"I just remembered I need to talk to Okumura-kun about homework in Dragoon class."

Sometimes it was good that he and Yukio were the only ones taking that class. He'd question Rin, then he'd see what to do from there.

* * *

When he came home from his walk, he didn't expect to see each and every mirror and reflective surface covered, be with blankets, papers, anything. He just wants to protect me, he reminded himself as he walked into the kitchen, Kasai being busy making dinner.

"You're not allowed to be outside while Amaimon is still here." Kasai didn't even say a simple 'hi', just going straight to the point.

Yukio huffed. "Yes, Nii-san," he joked. He looked at Kasai's confused expression. "No, I think you'd be more used to be called Ototo, hmm?"

"Mouhitori no ore." Kasai put his two yens.

In Yukio's opinion, it was a bit of a mouthful, really. "I'm not going to be copped up here. What, now this is a prison?" he raised his eyebrows.

Kasai hummed in agreement. "Yes. And I am your jailor."

It seemed like it was becoming a tradition, for Yukio to spill shocking news while Kasai was busy making dinner (he had improved enough that Yukio dug in his meal with gusto). Kasai was unbelievably proud of his cooking skills, always trying to improve and learn new recipes. In fact, cooking books and manga were the few things that kept him still (Yukio regretted introducing him to manga, but shhh don't tell him that).

The taller reflection decided to wait until food was on the table before speaking. "I ran into your brother today," he said conversationally.

"Amaimon-nii? I thought he had left after Fujimoto-sensei appeared?" Kasai wonderd after the obligatory 'Itadakimasu!'.

"No, no, I literally just ran into Iblis." Yukio said. Cue Kasai choking on his food.

" _What_?!"

"He thought I was you."

"Again,  _what_?!"

Yukio adjusted his glasses. "He told me why you are able to stay in Assiah."

"Eh?" Rin's frantic expression had been replaced by something akin to curiosity. Len was okay, so Iblis hadn't hurt him, so he could focus on the next important thing. "Why can I?"

Yukio's heart sank. How did one go around explaining this? How do you explain something like that to your best friend? "He told me that he was the one that took you away from Assiah, just after your birth. He told me that you're a half-human."

There. Better be blunt and no skirt around the subject. That had been Yukio's first thought before seeing Kasai go paler than white. "Sai-kun?" he asked cautiously.

"Are you saying- Are you saying that I had a life? Before that, w- I- With a home? A family? My life-"

_It could have been like yours._

He wasn't a full demon, then? That's why he could be in Assiah?

His life... It had been like Len's, in a way. All those years of staring at the other world behind the mirror...

No matter. No matter. He couldn't think about what-ifs. He had to focus on the 'now', the happiest days of his life.

They only spoke again after they had finished with their food, Len looking over at him in anticipation. "How could your brother mistake me for you?"

It was said softly, in a whisper, like he didn't mean to say it aloud. Rin frowned, wasn't it obvious? "Maybe you have some diluted demonic blood," he faltered when Len looked at him like he had said some devastating news. "I mean...It makes sense. For us both to be hybrids." Rin commented. He leaned forwards so Yukio and him were inches apart from each other. "I can see a demonic sparkle in your eyes. Muted, but it's still there."

Yukio wasn't even surprised that he sounded excited at the prospect. That would take some time getting used to, but Kasai seemed to be okay for a dem-  _half_ -demon, Yukio corrected himself. And if his powers were dormant, then all the better for him.

It did make sense. They were reflections of one another. Rin no Yukio. Yukio no Rin. Both complementing each other. His other half.

_Kimi wa boku de boku wa kimi._

It was as simple as that.

* * *

It was strange, Bon thought, that they had forgotten to lock the dorm door, but he was too worked up to care. He didn't know what he expected to find, but it wasn't the strangely similar-looking friends inches away from the other.

Bon's first thought was  _I think I interrupted something_ , and the second was  _Holy Heaven Shima was right_.

Yukio startled and pulled away when Bon entered his field of vision. Rin didn't even turn. "I heard you breathing next door," the black-haired boy said eventually. "I knew you were here."

Bon added 'hearing' to the plus side on his mental list of Rin's suspected demonic strengths and weaknesses. He added 'listens to people breathing' to the barely started list of things about Rin that creep him out.

Rin and Yukio exchanged a look. They knew it was pretty much inevitable that someone would discover their secret.

"Come in, Suguro-kun." Yukio greeted, looking as though he hadn't been caught in such a compromising position. There was a small tendril of dread poking icily at his stomach as Bon walked in and Yukio closed the door behind them. He was trapped there with a demon, oh God, how stupid can you get?

Yukio went back to Rin, who was sporting a pained, bitter smile on his face. "I'm not going to hurt you, Suguro."

Bon couldn't stand the tension. "You could hold your ground against the Demon King of Earth. You moved so fast I could barely keep track of you. Your injuries healed after a few hours. You know so much about demons. I saw the flames coming from you as you fought. Are you the Son of Satan?"

Rin looked down. Swallowed. "I can create blue fire, yes."

Bon let that sink in. It made sense. The pointed ears, the slightly-longer-than-average teeth, his complete and utter lack of social skills.

"He's a half-human, if we want to get technical." Yukio intervened, sitting down and motioning for the other two to do the same. Bon observed him. It was obvious that he had known, yet he was completely relaxed, only tensing when Bon's gaze came in contact with his. So, in Yukio's mind,  _Bon_  was the threat. "His mother was a human."

"I have never lied to you." Rin hurriedly said.. Bon studied him. Biting his lip, avoiding eye contact, constantly looking at Yukio as if seeking for help. "Yes, my home life wasn't...ideal, yes, the reason I know about demons is because of the lessons at home, yes, the only reason I'm here is to be with Len."

"How on Earth do you know each other? What the hell is going on?!" Bon raised his voice. He didn't know, and he hated not knowing.

The roommates exchanged yet another look. Yukio was the one who started. "Look, this will be difficult to believe, but please bear with us." he took a deep breath, steeling himself. "I have never known what I look like." Bon was opening his mouth but Yukio bulldozed his question. "Whenever I looked in the mirror, I would see a boy who looked just like me." he glanced at Rin for a moment. "We don't know if we are the same person, or different people that just so happened to be able to see the other."

Well, they did look similar enough, even more so with Rin getting glasses, or as Izumo called it 'twinning it up'.

"We don't know why this happened," Rin continued on. "It's just...the way things were. I could see how life was, in Assiah, I could see my reflection doing things I never could. I had wanted to go to Assiah since I was a child."

"I found out about him being the Son of Satan when I was eight." Yukio picked up. "I won't lie, I was freaked out for a while -before I only thought the flames and tail were cool-" (Rin smiled at him) "But I decided it didn't really matter. This was a boy I saw everyday, if he wanted to hurt me he'd have found a way."

"It was around that time that we named each other." Rin interrupted. "We couldn't hear the other, so we had to invent something."

Oh, so that's why they called themselves those nicknames.

"There's really nothing much to say about my childhood," Yukio mused. "Kasai-kun taught me how to fight...er...How to throw a punch at least." Bon suppressed a smile when he noted Rin beaming oh-so-proudly. "His situation worsened, though." That made his smile vanish.

"I didn't think you'd go into detail about that!" Rin glowered.

"Try to look at the mirror and see your reflection looking half-dead." Yukio said with a growl. It had happened frequently enough that he had to mention it. Bon inched away from the brown-haired boy.

"I heal quickly, you know that I'd be fine-"

"That doesn't excuse what they di-"

"ENOUGH!" Bon yelled, drowning the two bickering. "Both of you. Keep talking." at least he knew the abuse thing to be true, with Yukio telling it.

"Fine." both boys grumbled. "Cram school happened, the Naberius nearly killed me..."

"...I came to Assiah via the mirror, I still don't know how..." Were they actually completing each other's sentences?!

"...And he saved me from the Naberius. And the rest is history."

"So now I'm staying here, keeping Len company and helping you get extra credit in your assignments." Rin said with a big grin. "And you're not getting rid of me that easily."

Yukio got a worried expression. "Don't tell anyone. Especially not Tou-san."

Bon put his hand over his forehead. He was getting a headache. "I can't-" he started and then stopped, shaking his head. "I can't deal with this right now, I want to go home."

Rin, who was standing between Bon and the door, didn't move.

"I want to go home," Bon repeated, moving into Rin's personal space and drawing himself up to his full height. "If you'll let me."

Rin immediately moved away. "Of course."

As both he and Yukio watched Bon leave, he sighed. He should have  _known_. He should have known it was too good to be true. He wasn't an idiot, Bon would tell on them. He glanced at his reflection helplessly.

They'd be found out.

Everything was breaking apart.

Rin stood there for a long time, just thinking.

He didn't cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kimi wa boku de boku wa kimi: You are me and I am you


	15. Your past, my present

"Maybe we could tell them."

Yukio whirled around, glasses askew and papers flying from his desk. His homework had been forgotten in the span of a millisecond. "Kasai-kun, are you insane?!" he half-yelled. "It will mean a one-way trip to the Vatican, where you will be executed like they do to all demons, and they will laugh knowing they killed the Son of Satan. No, I don't want Kasai-kun to die, so I won't allow it. We won't tell anyone."

He expected his reflection to rebel, to argue, to yell. But he didn't. He seemed to calmly accept it and move on to other things.

It disquieted him. "Why aren't you angry?"

"I don't like keeping secrets from people, but I understand where you're coming from. Besides," Kasai continued with a shrug. "I know that Len knows best."

That made Yukio pause. "You are entitled to your own opinions, you know?" his voice had started out slow, without being sure of what to say.

"You are the 'real' one, it's better if I just follow you."

The 'real' one? What did that mean? Did Rin consider himself 'not real'? Is it because Assiah wasn't his world? Now that he thought about it, besides cooking, Yukio hadn't seen Rin do something that he liked. Everything was linked to Yukio.

He realized with a jolt his friend needed help in more ways than one.

"So you're helping me defeat Satan just because I asked you to?"

"You helped me escape, I owe you." Rin insisted as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "You are the first person who cared about me. So, I am helping you. I won't tell anyone of my powers, just like I won't tell my brothers of you. For every Abel, there is a Cain. You know that."

Momentarily taken aback that Rin had actually remembered something from the Bible, Yukio hummed. "And for every Tartini, there is a devil."

A grin. "I have learned that some of the best works, Len," Rin then informed, "are the ideas of one, but the work of another."

"A duet of the minds?"

"I would say of the souls." Rin said pensively.

A duet. Complementary parts. Rin, Yukio. Right, left. Half-demons. Each one with skills that complimented the other, not only reflections. He would have to teach his mirror that.

* * *

Computers, in Shiro's opinion, were a blessing. He didn't know what he would have done if he had to sort through all that.

He searched everywhere for something. Kidnapping articles, 'missing kid' news, he once again combed through adoption records, the ISSJ, anything he could think of. And still, his point remained.

Kyōei Rin, for all intents and purposes, didn't exist.

A boy born the 27th of December, they were a lot, still. Maybe he was too impatient. Perhaps he would ask Rin for his father's name -it would make searching for his origins much easier.

And then, there was Yukio to think about. Yukio who had a strong attachment, borderline obsession with Rin. Yukio who was unusually secretive. Yukio who had been there when the blue had appeared.

His attempts to talk to him hadn't been very good.

**"No, I didn't notice anything weird, why?"**

**"Blue? But I haven't- I didn't-"**  he had hesitated.

**"Why are you asking me this?"**

**"...I should go. Kasai-kun is waiting for me."**

* * *

Bon's mind was a whirlwind. The revelations from before had ended up not letting him sleep much.

Rin was the Son of Satan. The son of the evilest thing alive. He had seen the blue flames, had seen how easily he and the King of Earth traded blows.

But he had also seen Rin struggling to make sense of cooking recipes. Helping them with homework. Utterly, painfully clueless of how the world worked. Flinching away from him -Bon had wanted to do something very violent to whoever Rin's father was, and wasn't that killing two birds with one stone?- He had seen him around Yukio.

Not even Mephisto Pheles could fake that.

Rubbing his temples to prevent an upcoming headache, he focused on what his classmates were doing.

It baffled him that things could remain the same after such news. Shiemi was sitting with Izumo, Koneko was watching everything, and Shima was once again bothering the Demonic Duo. For his friend's safety, he hoped it was a joke. Knowing Shima, it probably was.

"Yukio and Rin sitting in a tree…"

"Shima-get-away-from-me." Rin answered in the same tone. He inched back with a laugh.

Shima didn't give up. "First comes the love, then comes the marriage…"

"And a pink-haired boy with spinal damage." Yukio glowered at him, waving a book and doing a great impression of Fujimoto. Honestly, if he didn't know better, Bon would have pegged Yukio as the demon one.

As Shima continued, Rin frowned at him. "Alright, listen up, you sorry excuse for a burnt crepe-"

Bon sighed. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

* * *

As he cooked what would be their lunch for the next day, Rin allowed himself a moment to reflect.

Rin had watched Bon like a hawk. He couldn't help it, he felt threatened. As a demon, it would be in his nature to attack. As Yukio's reflection, it was in him to shy away and look for comfort. That was a first for him. Being near Len, talking with Shiemi, watching Eyebrows-chan blowing her top with Shima.

Len had told him about what his father had asked. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. Ironic, ironic. The Paladin's son was suspected of being the Son of Satan. Almost as funny as Satan's son being an exorcist. Still, that change was bad. It would mean that, were Rin to use his powers, Shiro would think Len did it. And then they would prosecute him. And then he would be killed.

_God no please no don't take him I promise to be good oh god he's mine you can't have him._

_If he dies, will I be able to cross over to Gehenna? That would be good though. Because if Len doesn't make it, I can just wait for Satan. And I'll get him to kill me. And then I won't have to be alone._

He was vaguely aware his thoughts were becoming strange.

He saw Amaimon perched on a tree, by the window. Without breaking stride, he grabbed a lollipop of the few he had on his pocket and threw it at his older brother. He had brought them after their 'playtime'. He knew his brother would insist to be a hands-off 'babysitter', or something like that. Best to have something to keep him occupied.

Life was surreal. Having friends... it was strange. But not unwelcome. He would have to be stronger if he wanted to protect Len when the time came. If Bon was his friend, he wouldn't have to be so worried. But, trusting people other than Len was hard. Maybe it was his nature.

Or maybe the endless cycle of pain had given him enough doses of lucidity to see the patchwork colors of insanity before he was doomed to repeat another untimely failure.

The best minds are the most damaged, right?

Maybe was time he started picking up the pieces of his.

* * *

_He heard a 'click' as his door to the bathroom unlocked. His bedroom door remained unclicked._

_Three days this time. He knew because he kept count of the meals. He had never been locked away for that long without at least water. The boy moaned in agony. His insides were on fire with need, but his mind was too numb to understand its message. Dots of light danced in his eyes so he shut them tight. He knew the way without them, anyway. Good thing because he was jumbled._

_He clumsily made his way to the bathroom. A cool tub pressed suddenly against his shaking hands. He flung himself forward, frantically searching for the faucet. Liquid bliss spilled over his mouth. His tongue, so swollen and dry, almost stopped it from passing into his throat._

_He looked to the mirror. The boy inside it was watching him with horror, so pale the moles contrasted against his face. Guilt burned him like acid. He almost threw up the water he'd drunk. He'd made the Boy in Brown worry. He was so bad. Exhaustion wrapped around him. For the first time, he wanted to sleep and never wake up. He wanted to stop moving, stop breathing, stop hurting... Just. Stop._

_Maybe, if he died, he wouldn't go to Gehenna. Maybe he could cross over to the mirror. To where the Boy in Brown was. Maybe he could become his Guardian Demon. That would be nice._

Okumura Yukio woke up with tears in his eyes.

He realized he was standing, his hand halfway extended, almost touching the glass of the window. His gaze immediately went to the sleeping boy beside him. Kasai's sleep was restless, and Yukio acted in automatic, going to his side. Rin had snapped into a sitting position, not really concious, eyes wide and frightened.

And the mirrors still tried to separate them.

_I won't accept this_

_Everybody else who thinks it's a good idea are evil_

_I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this_

_I'll keep on looking for a solution_

_I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this I won't accept this_

Yukio did something he had never done before. He pulled the boy close and held him. Rin gasped, as if surprised. Barely conscious, he stared at Yukio like he was a miracle. It was as if Rin had never been held before. Something almost like steel snapped closed around Yukio's heart at the thought.

"Sleep," he whispered, stroking the dark hair ever so softly. "I'll take care of you."

Kasai gasped, hands clutching at Yukio desperately. Soft sobs shook through his shoulders for several minutes before the boy finally succumbed to sleep.

Yukio laid there, staring at the sleeping boy wrapped in his arms. Kasai was his friend, and Yukio wasn't going to let him go. "I'll take care of you."


	16. Your time, my worries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time goes on

Shiro planned, and searched, and time passed.

He asked Rin about his father's name, about where had he been kept, about what he had experienced.

The only answer he got was, "It was Hell."

* * *

Yukio began spending a lot of time in shooting practice. He had to, to protect himself.

**_bang_ **

Both halves of himself.

Shura...well, he wasn't immune to Shura, yet. He did answer to her mocking with all he had.

_**bang** _

_**bang** _

She had asked if Kasai was his boyfriend. He didn't answer her. It was fun to keep her guessing.

**_bang_ **

_I just want to protect your smile._

_How much strength does a person need to do that?_

**_bang_ **

**_bang_ **

**_bang_ **

He knew, now, what he had to do.

* * *

Shiemi and Izumo were the only ones in the class that disagreed on the Kyoto Trio perception of Okumura and Kyōei. When talking about it, Izumo realized the blonde's inexperience at understanding romance.

They had a sleepover/class-on-romance of sorts.

* * *

Yukio had been trying to include Rin in almost every conversation now. Little things like 'what do you think?' 'what's your opinion?' 'do you agree?'.

"You are your own person. You make your own decisions. And nobody can change that, not me, not anyone."

He smiled.

* * *

It wasn't something consciously planned. All Yukio knew is that they were a bit late for lunch, that he wanted to go to their usual table before someone stole it, that Kasai's hand was warm in his and that he wanted to eat without girls hovering in the background.

Rin suddenly slowed down. "Len," he said, soft and hesitant.

"Yes, Kasai-kun?" Yukio replied without loosening his grip.

"Do you… like me?"

 _Of course_ , Yukio wanted to say.  _Of course I do_. He tightened his hold. "Of course," he said. "Of course I do."

A hand came up and fisted in Yukio's jumper, forcing him to stop. "Would you like me better if I was a girl?"

Yukio's eyes opened and he frowned at that. Why was Kasai even asking? What did he mean? "I don't know," he replied honestly. At this point, he was not sure whether he liked girls better than boys or… or otherwise. He just liked some people more than others.

"Do you want to go steady?" he asked anyway. He had mentioned it to his father, who couldn't believe the lengths he would go in order to be left alone. It was something fake… it wouldn't change them much, really. He thought he heard a gasp somewhere behind them.

"What's that mean?" Rin titled his head.

"Like, be… boyfriends."

There was something hunted in Rin. Like he was a wild thing, and his ears were constantly perked for the approaching hunters.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

What.

W h a t.

Okay, fine, he hadn't told Rin about what he pretended to do, but he didn't expect to be rejected either!

"Oh." Was the only thing he could say.

Kasai turned to him, frustration etched in his features. "Len, I'm not a boy."

"What are you, then?"

"Your reflection." He said in a whisper.

He raised his eyebrows. "Sai-kun, I'm serious."

"I'm nothing."

With an irritated huff, Yukio edged away from Rin, more affected than he would admit. "What are you on about? If you don't want to be my boyfriend, that's fine. You don't have to make things up."

"What would be the point?" Rin asked. "What's wrong with things as they are?"

"I don't know," Yukio answered, and then he frowned, because he never thought of it that way. There was nothing wrong with things as they were, but Rin  _was_ different to everyone else he knew. He never liked anyone the way he liked Rin.

"Would anything have to change if I was your boyfriend?" Rin asked. "Would I have to do anything special?"

Yukio thought about it. They spend time together, they hold hands, and they had exchanged a hug and a couple of kisses on the cheek. Nothing special, or extra. "No," he answered, with some measure of assurance.

"So everything would be the same," Rin pressed, tugging Yukio close again with a hand that had warming up from where it had been laid over Yukio's heart.

"Yeah."

A breath, a beat of silence, then- "All right. I'll be yours."

…

"You know, I didn't catch on to what were doing at first." Rin commented, making Yukio pause in eating the bento Rin had prepared for him.

Rin had a smirk on his face. "You should have seen your expression when I told you 'no'-HEY!"

The backpack missed him by this much.

* * *

Yukio started to sleep on the same bed as him, when the nightmares were worse.

Rin had never felt more grateful in his entire life.

* * *

Yukio had to explain to Rin what the Blue Night was, for the exorcists. Why their friends could turn against them. Why it wasn't wise to reveal himself.

Bon overheard.

As he spoke, Bon's shoulders tensed. "My friends are decent but that doesn't mean I'm willing to gamble that on your life! Kyōei-kun, you know what the Blue Night did! You know what it left behind and what it took away! Don't you think people would be affected by this once you tell them?!"

"But that's-"  _not my fault…!_  Rin looked stricken. Of course he'd thought about it.

But as always, Len knows best, doesn't he?

* * *

The truth of Kyōei Rin, the reflection: there is no truth in Kyōei Rin, just as there is no truth in mirrors.

Okumura Yukio, his mirror, would like to disagree.

* * *

Rin did everything for him, always had.

Rin would die for him.

Yukio had known this forever, held it in the back of his mind effortlessly (too effortlessly).

He does almost anything and everything for Yukio.

Almost.

Because there's one thing Rin won't do, and Yukio doesn't learn it until he was about to lunge at the King of Earth.

Rin would die for him.

But he won't let Yukio do the same.

* * *

_If the devil's your lord, as the masses curse your name,_

_Then I'm a demon too, for we are one and the same._

Yukio had been trying to get a hold of the powers Kasai told him he had, hidden.

He did it by accident, really. He'd been trying to invoke a strong emotion, and had plunged headfirst into a memory of helplessness of not-quick-enough of what-if-he-gets-hurt-I-mustDOSOMETHING.

He picks the fight between Amaimon and Rin, and he could feel something changing, and he didn't know how to feel about that. Half-demon with developing powers. His Tou-san would freak.

And then Kasai came to the room, and their eyes met. And he jumped backwards, and it was apparent to Yukio that he wasn't seeing him, because how could one be scared of his own reflection?

 _Those eyes are not yours_ , Rin whispered, pale as a sheet, body tensed as if to run. Blue flames danced upon his skin, and they both were scared.

* * *

Rin never looked at a mirror without a good reason.

No reward without risk. In his veins, they feel like the same thing—at least, for a little while.

.

He used to explain to Amaimon,  _i'm not even going to Assiah,_   _it's safer this way_. Safer to let his mind run wild in a parallel universe; safer to turn the mirror sideways instead of the world.

 _It isn't safer for you_. And that was his brother, all pinched practicality and something that might have been affection but that never made it quite past his teeth.

"Get out of him." he growled at what should have been a reflective surface. He didn't dare to touch it because what if whatif he never wanted to leave Assiah. "Leave him alone, leave him out of this. He doesn't have anything to do with this!"

He left the room quickly, too wrapped up in whatifs to care how he looked.

* * *

It soon became obvious that Bon had to make a decision, if only for Rin's mental state.

At first, the boy had been worried, beyond worried, really. It reminded Bon of a fawn surrounded by lions.

But of course, everything has its limit. There came a time when Rin just couldn't worry anymore.

It was as if... he withered.

Everything that could be called emotion in the child was locked away, hidden deep within and repressed out of sight where no one could find it. He built walls, shells, shields of ice and fire and stone and steel, of barbed wire and molten iron, of pain, of silence, of  _nothing_.

Kyōei Rin became nothing more than a doll, a delicate porcelain doll with a tiny treasure hidden deep within, a deceptively fragile figurine with a core of tempered steel. Nothing surprised him, nothing pained him, his face never changed and his eyes were dull and flat, he rarely spoke and when he did it was with such soft hoarse tones that one had to strain to hear the rusty words through the air.

That finally convinced Bon.

When he told them he believed them and that he wasn't going to tell anyone, Rin nearly collapsed with relief.

* * *

They were told they would have a 'camping trip'.

Yukio couldn't be more relieved. Finally, peace and quiet.


	17. Your troubles, my flames (Part I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time goes on.

Yukio rechecked everything was in order, in its proper place. He had never gone camping, much less packed things for two, so he didn't want to forget anything. Clothes, toothbrushes, comb, holy water just in case...it would help tremendously if they knew more or less what sort of activities they would be doing, but beggars can't be choosers. Now let's see, his gun, Kasai's sword...

Rin's voice broke his train of thought, floating to his ears hesitantly from its owner's spot on the bed. "Is it really alright that you share everything with me? I don't really want to be a bother, Len..."

The boy with the moles looked at him with exasperated fondness. "I told you already, it's fine. They know of your circumstances, afte- ah, hell." Yukio grumbled as he tried to wipe away the holy water he had spilled. The volume of it made the task pretty much impossible. Giving it up as a lost cause, he looked over at his reflection. "You're looking better."

Rin smiled, as bright as his flames. He did look better, and finally felt somewhat normal again. With Bon unequivocally on their side, some of the stress Rin had been feeling had evaporated. Okay, being honest, not entirely. He was still worried about his reflection, about his eyes. Satan had absolutely no business with Yukio and he planned for it to stay that way. Yukio was his and his alone, and he would fight anyone who said otherwise.

Also, between Shiro and Nehaus, Len would be considerably safer. So maybe it wouldn't hurt to let himself relax. Just for a while.

* * *

Meanwhile Bon was getting ready with Shima and Koneko. His mind was still on Rin's heritage and why out of all people was he Yukio's reflection. He agreed to hold his silence and accepted the fact they were apparently "reflections" of each other; however, he couldn't find a single book that explained Yukio and Rin's connection to one another.

Well...he supposed it made sense. The Son of Satan and the Paladin's son... but he couldn't find any other leads.

He began going through his checklist to make sure he had everything packed. Aria beads, check. Clothes, check. Toiletries, check. He made the decision to leave his school books behind, only packing a small notebook and pencil in case anything needed to be jotted down.

"Koneko, Shima, you guys ready to go?" Bon said while zipping up his bag.

"Yeah." Konekomaru replied. "Let's grab something to eat before we head out."

"Just give me a few seconds, I'm almost done!" Shima exclaimed, finally getting off his bed to throw whatever he could get his hands on into his bag.

Bon could already tell that this was going to be a long trip.

* * *

While pitching the tents, Konekomaru frowned. Kyōei was a mess of contradictions. Most days he was exuberantly outgoing, but if anyone got too close to him he shrank away and Konekomaru swore he'd look afraid.

Yukio deposited a load of firewood at the edge of the Exwire's camp and allowed himself to smile as he watched the girls and Rin's attempts at cooking. Truly, the fact that Rin knew how to cook was actually a life-saver, if Shiemi and Izumo's previous attempts at the culinary art were any indication.

Not to mention it was hard not to get involved when Izumo held her knife like she expected the vegetables to attack her and Shiemi was enthusiastically adding an unconscionable amount of every spice at her disposal to the food. Thank God for Rin.

The black-haired boy had taken over the task, quickly and efficiently making himself the leader of the cooking team. He was bubbling with excitement, bursting with pride, because this was something he had learned on his own, because he wanted to and he was good at it.

With the smile still on his face, Yukio turned away and continued with the firewood.

* * *

After a wonderful dinner, Shiro and Nehaus outlined the Exwires first training exercise: the retrieval of several lanterns from the darkened woods. There were only 3 lanterns out there, so three slots for advancement.

With this information, the Exwires decided to split up and set out to accomplish their mission. Much to Rin's displeasure, Yukio insisted that they split up even though he offered to give Yukio the slot. The reflections agreed to a truce in which they would separate later on.

Almost as soon as they left the camp the teens were beset by hordes of moth-like demons. The moths swarmed around Yukio, but as soon as they got close to him they pulled back making high-pitched noises of disgust. Rin had to stop chuckling when the moths went to him instead, managing to get them to scram after breathing out a long tongue of blue fire. That got him a throughout scolding for Yukio.

Well, he had to use his flames every once in a while, and it wasn't like he could do it while cooking! The girls would notice, after all.

In another area of the forest Shiemi screamed as the moths tore her summoning circle and dispelled Nii-chan.

Without a moment's thought the two reflections changed direction and sprinted toward the sound of Shiemi's scream. They found her passed out on the ground, a swarm of moths hovering over her. Rin dove into the cloud of insects, batting them aside until he was crouched over Shiemi, shielding her with his body.

A short while later Bon broke into the clearing, he quickly collected Rin, Yukio and Shiemi's dropped flashlights and turned them off. After a bit the moths dispersed. "The light was drawing them," he explained. "You two okay?"

Rin sat up and Yukio peered at Shiemi in the dim moonlight. "I think she just fainted."

"How about you two?" Bon demanded. Rin merely gave him a look. He was half-demon and Yukio was under his protection, of course they were fine.

"We're fine. I guess they didn't like the taste of me… might be the holy water I spilled while I was packing." Yukio rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

Regathering his thoughts Bon realized they had grouped up unintentionally, "I'm heading off, it looks like you have things covered from here."

"Len, you should go too, I can keep her safe on my own. You need to get one of those slots", Rin moved towards Shiemi and sat down next to her, guarding her unconscious form.

The two parted leaving the son of Satan guarding their fragile classmate knowing she would be in good hands. Yet, neither couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.

* * *

Moths may have been controlled by a Tamer, but that didn't mean Yukio didn't consider them dangerous. Not that stumbling half-blind through the dark woods was anything better.

Yukio narrowed his eyes, turning on his flashlight. A large shape moved a few feet away from him. Once he could get a clear view of the creature, he froze for a second.

Oh, Heavens, no.

Oh God not again!

It was official: Okumura Yukio loathed Naberius with every cell of his being.

The boy promptly turned tail and ran as he was chased. Again. And this time, he didn't even have a clear outline of the are, which wasn't good, and this time he had more room to run but the flashlight wouldn't give him an advantage and he couldn't remember the fatal verse and-

_KASAI-KUN!_

* * *

In another part of the forest, distracted as he was with the green-eyed girl, Rin suddenly stilled.  _...Len?_

The lantern he was supposed to be looking for was immediately forgotten, unimportant. He didn't think how was it possible that he had sensed him. Yukio might be awakening after all. The only thought that clouded his head is that Len needed him.

But there was Shiemi to think about, too...

The black-haired teen frowned, Judging. Shiemi was a kind soul and one obviously deserving of his help. Yukio was... Yukio was him, there was no doubt about that, and Rin always allowed himself to be a little selfish in regards of his human counterpart.

He would be quick, kill whatever demon that was endangering his Len's life, and come back to guard Shiemi. It would be easy enough. He was sure the blonde girl would understand if he explained, probably.

Len needed him.

He could hear his footsteps. His shoes on the ground made a noise like rip-rap, rip-rap, rip-ran, rin-ran, Rin Ran. Rin ran.

* * *

All around the forest, there were several cries of alarm as the world suddenly exploded in blue.

"Ah, what have you done, you stupid candle?"

Well, if we want to get technical, several cries of alarm and one exasperated groan, courtesy of one Suguro 'Bon', who had only facepalmed.

The Son of Satan really was an idiot.


	18. Your troubles, my flames (part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yukio takes a page out of Allen Avadonia's book.

Yukio, scared as he was, couldn't help but recognize the dejá-vu of a Naberius chasing him. And, just like before, his salvation came in the form of azure flames.

Everything was blue. The skies, the clouds, the Earth.

Everything was screaming. The fire, the demon, his classmates.

Everyone was gone. Except for him.

A solitary figure running upon a crystalline Earth, lit ablaze with blue.

Glass-like, it looked like if he ever touched it, the entire Earth would shatter. Diamond-like, it barely flinched under his weight. Mirror-like, it reflected the skies, raging flames, and the ever-present shadow in front of him. No longer his own reflection, only a shadow.

The Naberius had long since burned to a crisp, and then Yukio found his voice again. "Kasai-kun..."

The boy covered in blue turned to him slowly. Eyes glazed over with the instinct to protect, before clearing in a sharp moment of realization of what had been done. What he had done.

"...Are you crazy?! You released your flames, the forest is burning, this is bad...!" his first instinct was to comfort him, to thank him, but the gravity of the situation was staggering. Stating the obvious wouldn't help matters, either.

Rin hadn't put much thought on burning, only knowing the people he wanted to protect, and the trees burned in a fiery blaze out of this world. It reminded him of Gehenna, if only for a moment.

Rin's flames, the ones that were dancing all over his body, dissipated once he told them to. The forest continued burning around them. The flames that touched Yukio refused to go out at first. Rin tried again. It left him exhausted. It left him angry at himself. He really was an idiot.

Len had tried so hard not to expose him, not to attract attention, and he had to go and blow it up in a myriad of azure flames.

He sunk to his knees, staring at what he had done for what seemed like two eternities, until he felt a hand on his back. Len's eyes were hardened steel, determined blue. Len's eyes were flickering between normal and demon. Rin wondered if Len realized it.

 _Oh._  he thought, because it was far easier to understand why Len wasn't burned by his flames that was to truly realize what he had done.  _We are...the same person..._

Maybe Yukio was awakening. Why now of all days? If they were in their dorm he would have celebrated.

"It's okay, Sai-kun." he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "You only wanted to protect me..."

Rin opened his mouth- to speak, to apologize, he didn't know- but Len was talking again, asking where was Shiemi, asking if he had brought her with him, and in his panic-cleared mind all he could feel was shame. He couldn't do anything right. He had just left her there. He had screwed up, just like before, just like before-

"I need you to get her here." Yukio's words cut through his self-loathing far easier than it should have been possible. "Can you do that?"

"I-" he was cut off once again. He heard something. Footsteps. Calls. They were coming, and the forest was blue around them.

"Kasai-kun, can you do that for me?" Len's voice was soft and urgent, and spurred the black-haired boy into action.

 _Of course_ , Rin wanted to say.  _Of course I can._  "Of course," he whispered. "Of course I can. But what about you?"

"I'll be fine, I promise. I promise. Just go, please."

* * *

Rin ran, ran all the way back to his fallen friend. He was relieved, so relieved when he found her cloaked in blue, but unharmed. The moths were nowhere in sight, probably burned as well.

He apologized, over and over and over, as he made his way back. It wasn't as quick as he would have liked. He didn't dare to risk her coming to harm. He had been too focused on Len, on his reflection, he couldn't do that. Not if he wanted the others to be okay, too.

-A part of him told him that there was nothing wrong with that, why should he help them when the only one who helped him was his own reflection in the mirror?- but he shoved it back. He wasn't there anymore, and would adapt accordingly.

Shiemi was okay. She was okay, which might mean he had succeeded. It was unbelievable and exhilarating at the same time. Wasn't he the weak one? The one who made mistake after mistake after mistake?

He guessed he might be doing something right, after all.

And then...

And then.

He came back into the clearing, and the world fell out of his feet.

Because Len was with the others -no, surrounded, and his classmates seemed fearful, and Shiro seemed horrified, and the forest kept burning, and Yukio's eyes kept flickering.

"Are those-?"

"Satan's blue flames." Neuhaus was beside Shiro, and from his position behind the other students, he flinched. Those eyes were full of hate. But why...why wasn't it directed at him?

Shiro snapped out of his shock and ran up to Yukio. "Hurry." he said while grabbing Yukio's arm to get him moving. "We have to go. Now."

"What is going on here?!" Bon interrupted. "You're telling me that  _Yukio_  exploded in Satan's blue flames?! That Yukio's the Son of Satan?" He didn't understand this, why this sudden cover-up, why wasn't Fujimoto freaking out just like the rest of his classmates.

"Yes." Yukio said, proud that his voice almost didn't tremble.

"No..." Bon looked behind him and finally saw Rin, with Shiemi in his arms and looking completely and utterly lost. The boy with the two-toned hair quickly went to him and put a hand over his mouth. Yes, Rin had been about to confess, but...

"Listen, I don't know what happened to set off your power, but Yukio is playing the part for a reason. You should trust him, or do you really want to get him killed because he protected a child of Satan?" Bon said in an angry whisper.

Rin struggled against the other male, but less than before.

"Let's go somewhere else-" Shiro was saying as tried to drag Yukio.

Yukio himself was feeling mightily confused. Why was his dad so...well, compared to the others he would say 'calm'? Wasn't he surprised, at least, that the boy he found under a bridge was, supposedly, the son of the God of demons?

"We'll all be getting the truth once we get to the Order." Neuhaus said.

The Order. Rin knew what that was. A bunch of higher class exorcists, was it? The government?

As if they had been summoned by the thought, suddenly hundreds of exorcist filled the clearing, others trying to put out the flames. They were all clad in black. Helmets, suits, weapons, more importantly. Seeing them pointed at Yukio made Rin finally snap down from his shock. He gently set Shiemi on the ground and, quick as lightning, put himself in front of Yukio, arms extended.

The boy with glasses looked at Shiro for an explanation -why there were suddenly hundreds of exorcists in the forest?!- but he seemed just as shocked as them. Neuhaus was the same way. Finally, he looked to his classmates, and his blood boiled when he saw Konekomaru, phone in hand.

The arrival of one of the Headmaster of the school only added to his rage. He could feel Rin's shock as if it were his own.

"Okumura Yukio and Fujimoto Shiro, you're under arrest." he said loudly, hands on hips and with a sickening grin that never left his face.

The only thing Rin could think about was,  _Holy Hell, my older brother and a lot of exorcist will ship my other half to his death._

The only thing Yukio could think about was,  _He's arresting the wrong one, he knows he's arresting the wrong one. Why is he playing along with me?_

"Mephisto," Shiro began. "What's the meaning of th-?" he didn't finish the sentence as someone fired.

A rainfall of darts fell on Shiro, on Yukio and, given that he refused to move, on Rin. By the pure force of it, they fell to their knees.

Yukio could feel his mind getting fuzzy and his tongue felt like lead.

 _Kasai-kun, I promise, we'll see each other again._  He would trÿ to keep that promise. He would. He swore would.

Rin could barely think as his conciousness slipped away.  _I love you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry._

I'm sorry.


	19. Your trial, my idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reflected in the mirror, we are "reversed"
> 
> Each time, I cried, you laughed?
> 
> If "my happiness" curses you,
> 
> What should I do to save you...?

A courtroom. Men in balconies surrounding him, trapping him. The Gringori. He himself couldn't move, trapped in...something, vision flickering between blue and normal. His adrenaline rush had faded ages ago.

"What is the name of the accused?" a voice boomed from somewhere above. Yukio couldn't pinpoint exactly who had spoken, not that it was an important matter. He was being Judged. Heavens above, he was being judged and there was a distinct possibility that he was going to die.

"Paladin Fujimoto Shiro," a voice was saying, and Yukio would have startled if he could. "You stand before us because you have been accused to have ignored orders from fifteen years ago, and not only save but also raise the son of Satan. How do you do plea?"

"Guilty."

There was an uproar, and as he listened, the boy was numb. He didn't understand. He didn't understand how his father was going along with his lie. Why. It wouldn't benefit him in any way, only harm him! Yukio knew he probably had demon blood running through his veins, but... God, his father had said he had found him under a bridge. This didn't make any sense! Unless...

"I found the boy's mother in a cave. She had already given birth once I found her, and I couldn't bring myself to slaughter a baby. I raised Yukio as a human. He was born weak, and I thought, at the time, that he did not inherit the flames. He has never shown demonic signs until now."

So it either was true, or his father was even a better actor that he gave himself credit for.

What had his father been  _keeping_  from him?!

Okumura Yukio hadn't ever given much thought as to how he would die, but if he had, executed wouldn't have been one of the options.

He tried to focus somewhere, so he wouldn't lose control completely.

He was trembling.

Why was he trembling? This wasn't... This wasn't like when he was a child, paralyzed by fear over seeing demons.

This was worse.

The trial hadn't even started, and it was interrupted by the doors opening with a bang that reverberated through the room. One Mephisto Pheles came from them. Think of the Devil and he shall appear, Yukio supposed. As much as he distrusted the demon, he wouldn't deny that his chances of surviving had shifted. Maybe. Probably. If Mephisto decided this was interesting enough.

"I see I have arrived just in time." Mephisto said grandly. Yukio gnashed his teeth. The demon himself had arrested them and was there once he had been knocked out, he didn't have an excuse for being late other than making a dramatic entrance!

The voice came again. "Mephisto Pheles, you have not been invited to participate in this trial. What have you to say for yourself?"

"I come with evidence to show that this young man is harmless," Mephisto, the picture of innocence.

"Evidence? Harmless? We know that he is Satan's son, and that he is able to utilize the blue flames. What evidence do you have?"

"The boy hasn't fully awakened yet. That is why he appears to be human." Mephisto explained. "The power he wields is immense, and with enough training, he will be able to control it decently. With his demonic abilities, he would no doubt be able to match one of your own in battle. Finally – well, you've allied yourself to me, haven't you? And look at everything I've done for you."

"Yukio is training to be an exorcist at the moment, and has stated multiple times the goal of destroying his birth father." the King of Time continued. "So I propose a wager. Let's see if he becomes the savior of Assiah, or the King of Gehenna."

Yukio could do nothing but watch the events unfold _. If I am to live... I'll have to be the most powerful being there is. Too valuable a weapon for them to just discard._  His mind's eye focused on his reflection, on Kasai.  _I will carry this burden so he doesn't have to. I just have to control my own powers. I will protect him, and to protect him, I have to surpass him._

He never thought he would find himself in such a situation, but he would adapt. He had no other choice.

* * *

They were in the Infirmary, and the majority of the Exwires hadn't taken the news well. Shiemi couldn't believe it. Izumo was as unaffected a ever. Bon...well, Rin supposed it was good that he knew beforehand, and was going a good job of hiding it. Shima...another shock for him.

Konekomaru, on the other hand...

"How can you act so normal about this, Kyōei-kun?!" Konakomaru said. Rin glowered. His opinion of the bald boy had taken a nosedive after he found out he had been the one to call those Order guys.

_They're thinking of him as though he's a beast...they would have done the same to me._

Len had sacrificed himself for him. He had never expected it. He felt the crushing feeling of guilt threaten to overwhelm him. If he had caught on what Len intended to do, if he had been faster in looking for Shiemi, if he had not lost his cool in the first place... This would have never happened.

"Len saved me, more than once," he replied coldly. "I won't turn my back at him just because of his blood. That's stupid."

He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. Len was with the Gringori, awaiting Judgement. That wasn't right, nobody had the right to judge his reflection but him. It was just not done. He had to calm himself down. He had to think of a strategy.

_Reflected in the mirror, we are "reversed"_

_Each time, I cried, you laughed?_

_If "my happiness" curses you_

_What should I do to save you...?_

He suddenly smiled. "Sou da...I should..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is wondering, this entire story came from the Vocaloid song Mirror's Magic. That's why I put Vocaloid references.
> 
> Also, if anyone wants to make a story with the 'mirror images' prompt, go ahead, you have my blessing. Just tell me the url cause I want to read it
> 
> -Allen


	20. Your rage, my fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yukio arrives. Rin thinks. Things get better, and worse.

Rin nursed his bleeding hand as he stared at the cracked mirror, then at the closed door. He alternated between them every few seconds.

Bon had said he was being stupid. Rin didn't believe it, he was just doing what was necessary. Yet Bon had caught him when he was elbow-deep inside the shimmering glass, and had somehow pulled him back, and made him promise to never do that again. And Rin never broke a promise, nor did he have a desire to.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He had to help Len, and since they were reversed, it only made sense for him to go back to Gehenna so he could help him that way. Only, he didn't want to. He really didn't want to. Even knowing that he could help Yukio that way, he couldn't bring himself to take that last step. Not even for Len. He couldn't muster the sense of 'not-self' that usually invaded him whenever he tried to do something martyr-like, as Bon put it.

He stared at the rapidly healing cut with a pensive expression.

But the truth was, he didn't want to go back. Not when he knew what a good life was like. He wondered if it was selfish of him to think that way. To be somehow better than his human half, which was was he aspired to be. When he was very little, his hair had been white and blue, like his flames. Upon seeing Yukio for the first time, it had changed to black, and Rin wouldn't change it back, ever.

Len had to be fine. Fujimoto cared about him, he wouldn't just throw him to the wolves. Rin hoped so, at least. He had no experiences to compare what he saw, and while Shiro's treatment of Yukio was alien to Rin, he hoped it was better than what the half-demon had to deal with when he was young.

When the door finally opened once again, Rin was invaded by wild joy and nervous terror, a strange paradox.

Yukio was alive, and he was well, unharmed. And he was also angry, and Rin didn't know how to confront that, had only once seeing that directed at him, and never wanted a repeat. He wanted to hug him. He didn't meet his eyes. Yukio stepped close to him, and Rin closed his eyes. He would never, Yukio would never.

A pair of arms were around him. In that moment the arms squeezed a fraction tighter, and Rin breathed slower, his body melting into his mirror's as every muscle lost its tension. Len would never. He wasn't there anymore. This was life, real life.

"I'll have to take the exorcist's exam in six months, and then it'll be decided if I live or die." Yukio informed him. Rin couldn't have been happier.

"And you think you got this?"

"Completely." and Rin could feel the smile in his words, could see it when they separated. "I don't know what will be done with 'my' flames. Would you help me?"

Rin didn't need to be asked twice. "Of course." he smiled back, and he paled just a bit when the boy's eyes fell on the broken mirror and his now-healed hand.

"You didn't, did you?" he whispered, smile vanishing without a trace. "Did you?" and it was just a tad louder, this time.

"Tried to." he admitted. "I'm sorry. I thought I would help you-"

"But you didn't." Len cut him off. It was like he was trying to convince himself of something. "But you didn't go through with it, and that's all that matters."

He smiled again, and Rin smiled back, and he wondered if he was forgiven. He wondered what would happen to them, now.

"We do have more pressing matters to think of." the boy with the moles mused.

"None of our classmates took your revelation well." Rin glowered at the wall, and he could feel the fire within him burn hotter with the mere thought. "Just Bon, and he had to keep up appearances. They're stupid." he growled. "They have eyes but they can't see. They're blind. I can't believe they brought it."

"Kasai-kun." Len called, and Rin stopped his torrent of words before it even began. "Have you ever thought about the fact that it might be true?"

"What are you talking about?" the half-demon was legitimately confused. "I'm the Son of Satan, not you!" he grinned with all his teeth at the ridiculous notion. "You're just my awesome reflection."

"Tou-san brought it, and Mephisto went along with it." Yukio blurted out. He couldn't hold it back anymore. "He brought it, and he shouldn't have! He knows when I lie!" he stood up suddenly, and Rin watched as he paced back and forth, forth and back. "He knows it, and he didn't try to prevent it! He didn't doubt it for a second..! Kasai-kun- the look on his face... He was calm! Like he had been expecting this, and-!"

He swallowed back his scream of rage and frustration. Bottled it up for now. "He told me he found me under a bridge." the taller boy whispered.

"Maybe you were just convincing?" Rin feebly attempted to calm down what had been an exploding volcano a few seconds ago. Because what else could he say? He couldn't think about the implications. Not now.

Yukio took a deep breath. Exhaled. Repeated the process quite a few times. "I don't like being lied to." he said in a hush. He sat down. His blood boiled under his skin. Rin sat beside him and hummed in agreement, wondering how to comfort.

"Nobody does," he finally said. "So what will we do about it, Len?"

And he was stuck by inspiration. "I think," Yukio started. "That it's time to pay Sir Pheles a visit."


End file.
